Saturday, October 8, 2011

Hockey Is Back...

...and I'm having difficulty putting it into my schedule right now.

But I did catch some of the opening game(s) on the season. Out driving, I caught some of the Canadians/ Leafs game. Basically, it was a case of a goalie (James Reimer) stealing a game for the Leafs. It will be interesting to see how he performs this year, especially if the Leafs make the playoffs. It is always fun watching the Leafs and the Habs, no matter where they are in the standings. Matt Lombardi had a fine game, and I'm glad to see him back from a concussion.

Speaking of which, I went to a bar to watch the next game. Well, the first two periods, anyway. It was the Pens and Canucks. Call me in the minority here, but I have a feeling that, even without Crosby, the Pens are going to be strong this season.

The Canucks looked step slower in the first, and Roberto Luongo really gave up a bad goal to James Neal. Matt Cooke somehow got left alone in front and made it 2-0. A late tally by Maxim Lapierre was sort of as bad as Neal's goal. 2-1 Pens after one.

The second period looked bad for the Canucks for a while. Cooke somehow notched his second goal shorthanded, and things looked mighty bleak for Vancouver.

But a great passing play resulted in a Keith Ballard goal. Henrik Sedin made a beautiful pass! This seemed to turn the tide as the period ended.

In the third the Canucks dominated, and tied the game as Daniel Sedin scored, with his brother drawing an assist. However, there was no further scoring and the game went into OT.

Vancouver seemed poised to win and had some good chances. They could not convert, however and the game went to overtime.

The Canucks elected to shoot first, with Mikael Samuelson fired a writst shot that Mark Andre Fleury made a save. But at the other end, Luongo could not duplicate that as Kris Letang scored.

When Alex Burrows came up empty, it was Evgeni Malkin with a chance to win it.

And he did just that by scoring on Luongo, as he waited for Luongo to go down, and flipping it over him.

Overall this was good game, with two fast skating and exciting teams.


References


“Official Site of the National Hockey League.” NHL.com. National Hockey League. Web. 8 Oct. 2011. <https://www.nhl.com>.

Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. Web. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. 8 Oct. 2011.

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