Thank you YouTube!
The funny thing about the first few games of a season is all the crazy things that can occur early. Numbers can be thrown all over the place and in a variety of twists, your fantasy team can feel the pain. Clearly this has been one crazy day and night plus there are still some late action to go including the decision on a Captain in Vancouver.
How strange of a day and night has it been? Let us count the ways in this night way to spotlight the best and worst of a straight up nuts Saturday in the National Hockey League.
On the “STEP” UP!
Derek Stepan must have ate his wheaties today. Whatever he did clearly worked. In his debut with the New York Rangers, the rookie has a hat trick already in only two periods. We knew the Captain from Wisconsin would be good but not nearly this fast. Give the kid credit. He works hard and has a great work ethic. It is not like Stepan scored a hat trick against Patrick Lalime. This one came against Ryan Miller.
John Carlson steals spotlight?
Yes John Carlson has a three point night as the Capitals are hammering New Jersey in the third period. The score does not matter but the real scene stealer is the Capitals defenseman, who many thought should have been drafted by New Jersey. The former Colonia, NJ resident has a goal and two assists while playing solid defense tonight. Just think this is only his second year and he could fill out a bit more. That is not good news at all for the rest of the National Hockey League.
Fight Night In Washington?
There are fights everywhere in Washington. Literally, the Caps got a 7:00 PP from one of the melees. When Ilya Kovalchuk fights, you kind of know what kind of night it was by New Jersey. If you have Pierre Luc-Letorneau Leblond in your fantasy league and penalty minutes count, you would be a happy man. The penalty list on the paper I saw was hysterical. It is something to be seen when it is still done the old fashioned way by pencil and paper. P3L did get plenty of PIMS but got a game misconduct along with an instigator amonst other penalties. It did happen in the last 5:00 so it is subject to NHL supplemental action. I would not be surprised to see a 1 game ban.
The penalty list……
| Penalty Summary | ||
| 1st Period | ||
| New Jersey | hooking – 2 min | 6:26, D. Zubrus |
| Washington | interference – 2 min | 11:29, A. Semin |
| New Jersey | tripping – 2 min | 13:06, Z. Parise |
| 2nd Period | ||
| Washington | tripping – 2 min | 11:08, A. Semin |
| Washington | holding – 2 min | 16:19, J. Chimera |
| 3rd Period | ||
| Washington | too many men on the ice – 2 min | 2:16, Bench served by A. Ovechkin |
| New Jersey | fighting – 5 min | 4:03, D. Clarkson |
| Washington | fighting – 5 min | 4:03, J. Chimera |
| New Jersey | slashing – 2 min | 8:34, P. Letourneau-Leblond |
| New Jersey | fighting – 5 min | 15:43, I. Kovalchuk |
| Washington | fighting – 5 min | 15:43, M. Green |
| New Jersey | fighting – 5 min | 15:47, R. Pelley |
| Washington | fighting – 5 min | 15:47, M. Hendricks |
| Washington | fighting – 5 min | 15:49, M. Bradley |
| New Jersey | fighting – 5 min | 15:49, D. Clarkson |
| Washington | roughing – 2 min | 15:53, J. Carlson |
| Washington | game misconduct – 10 min | 15:53, J. Carlson |
| New Jersey | instigator – 2 min | 15:53, P. Letourneau-Leblond served by A. Urbom |
| New Jersey | slashing – 2 min | 15:53, P. Letourneau-Leblond |
| New Jersey | fighting – 5 min | 15:53, P. Letourneau-Leblond served by A. Urbom |
| New Jersey | game misconduct – 10 min | 15:53, P. Letourneau-Leblond |
Radim Vrbata comes home and loves it!
Radim Vrbata enjoyed the Prague experience this afternoon as he scored twice and added a helper in a 5-2 win over Boston. It was safe to say Tuukka Rask had a long long time in net. Vrbata nearly had a hat trick but shot one just wide of Rask late in the third. Simply Vrbata played a nice all around game for Phoenix and that is the type of game he needs to play if he expects to stay fantasy relevant. To think they said it would not last in Phoenix. Yes its one game but the possibility is definitely there at the very least.
Yes we saw Steven Stamkos and Alex Ovechkin too!
Two of the most feared scorers in the league took center stage and rightfully so. Both had two goals and an assist in their team’s respected victories tonight. They are both fantasy studs but took their games to yet another level. Stamkos got a pretty nice goal and Ovechkin tallied a sweet one on a penalty shot. It will be more interesting to see what kind of totals Stamkos can put up in Guy Boucher’s system. It could be fun times in Tampa Bay.
For Buffalo and New Jersey….not so much tonight.
Someone has to go in the dud end along with the Ottawa Senators. Buffalo laid one giant egg giving up six to the Rangers while New Jersey gave up seven to Washington and lost Anton Volchenkov. Oh by the way Rick DiPietro played and looked shaky at times tonight giving up 4 goals and John Tavares ran into Adam Burish and got a concussion for his trouble. It was just one of those nights and even Pekka Rinne just went down from Nashville with an undisclosed injury (he left the game). Maybe the Injury Ninja is picking right up where he left off. Note that on your fantasy rosters. It seems no one is safe.
Well hopefully your fantasy teams are rolling along. If they are not, well look it is early after all. There is always hope this time of year.
