Nashville did it’s best to keep the sea of red out of Bridgestone Arena. Although there were still plenty of Blackhawks fans in attendance, the Predators and Pekka Rinne closed the door on a comeback, winning 3-2 in regulation. Calgary picked up their first home win of the season in whooping fashion, blanking Carolina 5-0.
Here’s a few tidbits to keep in mind heading into Friday night’s contest.
- Boston Bruins will be without their big man Zdeno Chara for the next 4-6 weeks. The defenseman tore his posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during last nights game against the Islanders. B’s GM Peter Chiarelli is hopeful Chara will be on the ice sooner, “might be a little bit earlier than four weeks, but a conservative time frame would be 4-6 weeks.” No surgery is planned at this point.
- James Neal tallied his first hat trick of the year against the Blackhawks. The three goals were enough to take down Chicago 3-2. The trick brings Neal up to 5 goals on the season, and the Predators are now 5-0-2.
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Ryan Miller beat the St. Louis Blues in his first game in action against his former team 4-1. “It was interesting,” Miller said. “I’ve never done that before. I’ve never had a chance to play against a former team like that. … A lot of good guys on the [Blues]; it was one that I was actually really looking forward to, especially here in St. Louis. It was fun.”
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The battle for the 1st overall pick is heating up as both Buffalo and Carolina were shutout last night. Both teams only have 2 points and don’t look like they’ll be improving any time soon.
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With his 33rd shutout last night, Jonathan Quick broke the Los Angeles Kings franchise record in shutouts. Quick did it in easy fashion against a struggling Sabres team making 29 saves Thursday night.
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Detroit scored 2 goals in the final 3 minutes of regulation against Pittsburgh before ending it in overtime. Justin Abdelkader finished off the comeback with under a minute to go in ot. The Red Wings are now 4-1-2, while the Penguins fall to 3-2-1.
Play of the night
Milan Lucic‘s first goal of the season 18:21 into the first period last night.
Locks of the night:
Tampa Bay, Colorado, Anaheim