A new season in the NHL, brings a new year of weekly NHL columns. This is a short one.
Prospect passes away.
We have all heard of this story by now, hopefully it is the worst to come from the NHL this year. New York Rangers prospect Alexei Cherepanov died on October 13th during a game. The cause of death was determined as heart failure. A truly sad story, hopefully we don’t have to see anything like this anytime soon.
However on Thursday October 16th another young hockey player died. Goaltender Artur Bagautdinov died when he fell from a window while visiting his friends in Kaliningrad, Russia. The goalie played in a league equivalent to the A.HL. Let’s hope that’s the last hockey death of the year.
Red Wings honor legend
On October 18th the Detroit Red Wings honored one of their teams legends. The Wings honored Ted Lindsay when they revealed a statue of him and had opening ceremonies centered around the 83-year-old retired winger. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1966 after his amazing playing career. He amassed over 800 points in his career and was awarded the Art Ross trophy in 1950. Lindsey was a part of four Stanley Cup teams in Detroit.
Hossa notches 300th.
Marian Hossa watched the Detroit Red Wings lift the Stanley Cup from the opposite bench last season. This season he is one of them. On Saturday he scored his first goal as a Red Wing, it was the 300th of his career. In a Red Wings uniform this year Hossa has one goal and four assists in five games, he is also a plus four. Detroit is 3-1-1 so far this season as it looks to defend its title.
Four teams with 0 in loss column.
The Minnesota Wild and the Edmonton Oilers are the only two true unbeatens left in the NHL, however the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres have yet to lose in regulation. Both Montreal and Buffalo suffered an overtime loss. Montreal’s only blemish came at the hands of Buffalo while the Sabres only loss came in a shoot out against the Thrashers. The Wild stayed unbeaten by shutting out the Lightning and beating them in a shoot out. The Oilers have one all of their games by only one goal.
Flyers and Lightning yet to Win
Even a mullet hasn’t turned around the fortunes of the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bolts have lost all five games, however have earned a point in three of them due to overtime or shoot out losses. The Philadelphia Flyers could use some of the luck that their baseball counterparts have been enjoying. They have yet to win on the season, losing two of their five games in overtime.
Crosby, Malkin Net Milestones
Sidney Crosby got a hat trick on Saturday, only he didn’t score three goals. He registered his 200th assist of his career when he hit Pascal Dupuis with a pass and Dupuis put it in the net. Crosby then got another assist on a Miroslav Satan tip-in, getting his 300th point of his young career. Crosby would then score the next goal; it was his 100th NHL goal. The play also resulted in Evgeni Malkin’s 200th career assist. Crosby would record another assist on the night, giving him four points for the night and 302 on his career.