Oh What A Night

  The 2011-2012 season got off on the right foot as six teams saw the start of an exciting new year of hockey. Arguably five of the six teams that saw the puck drop in last evening’s season opener stand a legitimate chance of pushing for a Stanley Cup, and they proved it in the show.

  The Boston Bruins opened up the night with the raising of their Stanley Cup banner. The B’s look is much the same as last year’s team, and their chances don’t differ by much. Bruin’s young star Brad Marchand got things started off by officially scoring the first goal of the 2011-2012 season, picking up where he left off in the post season as he helped lead his team to the Stanley Cup Championship.

  The Flyers would have a response of their own, as the new look team relied heavily on their offseason acquisitions. The Flyers, who just two seasons ago were in the Stanley Cup Finals fielded eight new players and three rookies.

    The Flyers would even the game as Claude Giroux took a pass from newly acquired future hall of famer Jaromir Jagr on the powerplay, and deked his way past last year’s Vezina and Conn Smythe winner Tim Thomas. Jagr picked up his 1,600th NHL point on the play, leaving us all to wonder what number that would have been if he had never left the National Hockey League. Giroux and Jagr paired up in the preseason, a pairing that looks as dangerous as any other in the NHL. Jakub Voracek, also an offseason acquisition of the Flyers, would score 47 seconds later for his first of the season, and first as a Flyer. All three goals came in the first period, as another offseason acquisition in goaltender Ilya Bryzgalav stood tall and stopped a total of 22 shots to spoil the B’s opening night at the TD Garden for a 2-1 victory.

"We played the Stanley Cup champions. It's not easy," said Jagr. "They're probably the best team in the NHL and we've got totally a new team. A lot of young guys. A lot of rookies. You've got to give us time."

  Meanwhile in Toronto, James Reimer gave the home crowd a boost as he stood on his head, stopping the Montreal Candiens dead in their tracks as he opened the year with a 32 save shutout. Though Reimer wasn’t overwhelmingly happy with preseason, he kept a cool head when the real show began.

"That's why you can't take too much out of pre-season," said Reimer. "Honestly, I just felt like I wasn't getting the bounces (then) and tonight I felt that I was. You have to get pretty lucky to get a shutout."

"I thought I played pretty good tonight, but at the same time they could have had three goals."
Carey Price played well at the other end, stopping 16 of 18 shots directed on his net. Though the amount of shots were relatively low, the Maple Leaf’s scoring chances were top notch."

    The scoreless game was opened up by offseason acquisition Matthew Lombardi on a shorthanded tally just 33 seconds into the second period as the penalty kill unit’s Mike Brown, another newcomer, forced the puck into the offensive zone and placed it on net, leaving goaltender Carey Price scrambling and Lombardi wide open for the tally. Captain Dion Phaneuf would deliver on a bomb of a slapshot, but the goal itself wouldn’t even be nesescary for the victory against their divisional rivals. The Leafs would end the night besting the Canadiens’ and Bruin’s season season opener, taking an early lead in the Northeast Division. The Maple Leafs worst enemy in recent years has been their start to the year, something the ownership and management group wants to fix heading into the 2011-2012 season.

  The last matchup of the evening came in the form of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vancouver Canucks. Probably the most exciting of the three games played last evening, the two teams didn’t disappoint in a back and fourth game that ended in a shootout.

  Matt Cooke surprisingly led the Pens in their season opener with two goals, and managed to actually stay out of the penalty box.

    The Canucks didn’t get off on the right foot after failing in game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals last year. The Canucks re-tweaked in the offseason with the addition and subtraction of some key players. Unfortunately the Canucks started as they usually do, looking somewhat shakey. After falling to a 3-1 deficit early in the second period, Keith Ballard scored as the Sedin twins assisted the goal late in the second period for the beginning of the Canucks comeback.

  In the third, it was the Sedins’ again connecting, as Daniel Sedin netted his first of the year 7:51 into the third to bring the two clubs even, which would ultimately send the game into a shootout.

  Veteran goaltender Roberto Luongo also struggled in the shootout, allowing Evgeni Malkin to outwait the netminder and lift the puck over the sprawled out Luongo for the 4-3 shootout victory.

"I could have been a little more patient,'' said Luongo, who stopped 25 shots.

"I was trying to wait him out but they went backhand both times and over my pad.''

  Malkin was easily the best player in the preseason, and has continued his form from the start. Malkin will be relied on heavily to lead the team in captain Sydney Crosby’s absence.

  All in all the season’s opening night was as much as it was expected to be, it was a great night, and it’s great to have hockey back in action.

- Kendall Grubbs