Sports Then and Now

Anze Kopitar is the top scorer in the NHL so far this season.

Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings is the NHL’s leading scorer almost a fifth of the way into the season. His twenty eight points in eighteen games have pushed him past the injured Ovechkin. This is the fourth year in the NHL for the twenty two year old Slovenian. He has flirted with the point a game barrier but this year is looking to smash through it. Kopitar is on pace to score over one hundred and thirty points.

The LA Kings scored the third fewest goals in the league last year ahead of only the Islanders and Colorado. They finished behind such offensive power houses as the understaffed Nashville Predators, the caught in their own trap Minnesota Wild, and even the offensively bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes. This year the Kings are third in the league in scoring behind only Washington and San Jose. They’re threatening to take a playoff spot. It’s not all because of Anze Kopitar, but his breakout season is helping.

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When it looked like Buffalo was struggling against a team with one win, they pulled through and found a way to earn the two points. The Sabres have been doing this all season long. Buffalo has found ways to win when they are not at the top of their game.

The Sabres were not on their game Friday night against Toronto, but goaltender Ryan Miller was. Buffalo was outshot 35-28 and Miller was the main reason the Sabres were even in the game. “That’s who [Ryan Miller] is. He’s a battler and the backbone of our team,” Buffalo captain Craig Rivet said about Miller.

“We played against a feisty team that wanted a win, and he stood on his head a couple times to help us out. He was the main reason we got the win.”

He stopped 33 shots, and with the help of the goal post and some luck, the Sabres stole two points from Toronto.

Miller improved to 8-0-1 on the season as he leads the league in goals against average (.944) and save percentage (1.65).

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Clarke MacArthur helped the Sabres remain undefeated on the road.

Buffalo improved to 4-0 on the road with Wednesday’s win in New Jersey as the Devils fell to 6-4 on the season with the loss.

It was Clarke MacArthur who put Buffalo on the board.

MacArthur scored 81 seconds into the game for his 5th goal of the season.

Welcome to Buffalo, Tim Kennedy!
Rookie Tim Kennedy scored his first NHL goal six minutes into the game. He came out from behind the net, spun around, and shot it past Martin Brodeur to give Buffalo a 2-0 lead. It was a goal Kennedy will never forget.

New Jersey got themselves back into the game when Andy Greene scored a powerplay goal, his first of the season. That was all the Devils would get though. Buffalo did not give New Jersey any chance of a comeback. It was a solid game all around from Buffalo and it paid off in the end as they earned the two points.

Midway through the third, Paul Gaustad scored his 2nd goal of the season, putting his team up 3-1 with ten minutes to play.

Jason Pominville put the game away with a power play goal with less than three minutes to go in the 3rd.

Buffalo now has 15 out of a possible 18 points this season.

Defenseman Tyler Myers has one more game before Buffalo has to keep him up. General Manager Darcy Regier needs to make a decision before Myers plays 10 games. It would not be a surprise to see him stick around in Buffalo for awhile.

New Jersey falls to 1-4 at home, while remaining a perfect 5-0 on the road.

Former Buffalo Sabre Andrew Peters signed with the Devils, but did not play in Wednesday’s matchup.

Ryan Miller improved his record to 7-0-1 on the season.

Buffalo has held opponents to only 17 goals this season, best in the NHL.

Bufalo will return home Friday night to host the Maple Leafs.

Jacques Plante wore a mask for the first time on November 1, 1959.

Ken Dryden in his book THE GAME spent a chapter explaining why goalies were not regular hockey players. They dressed differently, they played differently, they were different. While the rest of a goaltenders teammates are skating around passing and shooting a puck, stick handling, moving, the goalie sits and waits. He does nothing but wait to be assaulted from all angles with a vulcanized rubber puck shot at him at over a hundred miles an hour.

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Hockey is back! Rejoice!

The new NHL season has opened up and it has started up with a bang. The NHL regular season is a marathon followed by the playoffs. The playoffs are a marathon run at high tempo while somebody beats you with a stick. Alexander Ovechkin however only knows how to sprint. He’s exploded to start the season with three points in each of his first three games.

That’s a Gretzky/Lafleur start to a season that hasn’t been seen in the NHL for 20 years.

Philadelphia and Washington played an important game in October, honest!! They played a great, exciting, back and forth game that Philadelphia won 6-5 in overtime. There were five lead changes in a 6-5 game as in Philly, Washington, Philly, Washington Philly. Besides Ovechkins third three point night and Semin’s highlight reel goal there was a hat trick for Philadelphia’s Mike Richards. Daniel Briere got the overtime winner. Is it time for the playoffs yet?

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Sidney Crosby and Pittsburgh won the 2009 Stanley Cup.

The start of the NHL season is a couple of weeks away and this is my attempt to evaluate what’s happened in the off-season and what it means for the new hockey year.

This is my look at the Eastern Conference. I’ve taken a look at each team in the order they finished last year and postulated how they’ll finish this year.

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