It’s a fair question to ask any team that gets off to a surprisingly strong start, especially on Halloween: is this team a true competitor or are they just dressed as one?
With Jack Eichel’s scary good overtime winner last night against the Winnipeg Jets, the Vegas Golden Knights have won four straight and hold the league’s second-best point percentage. The top mark belongs to the Boston Bruins, who are currently enjoying a five-game winning streak after Friday night’s 4-0 shutout against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Was there a case pe-season to do it were quality outfits? Certainly. But both teams fired coaches last year and entered this campaign missing major pieces through long-term injuries.
But here they sit, 1-2 in the standings and offering plenty of evidence that those hot starts have power. The Bruins and Knights both have strong underlying numbers and are ranked first and second in the league in goal differential (Boston is the best at plus-18, with Vegas just behind at plus-15).
The Bruins, in particular, have a number of things that raise eyebrows. Obviously they were playing the opossum a bit with the timeline of Brad Marchand’s recovery from hip surgery as the left winger has already returned from an injury which we think could bring him out closer of December. And even though Charlie McAvoy returns earlier than expected from shoulder surgery (he trained with the squad on Monday morning), the result is that the club have been without their No. year.
But look what the guys there are doing. David Pastrnak is one point off the league scoring lead after his goal on Friday; Patrice Bergeron has nine points in nine games, with nine more to go for 1,000 on his Hall-directed career. Meanwhile, the other “Will he come back or not?” Guy, David Krejci, is also playing at a point-per-game clip alongside compatriot Pastrnak. Relative newcomer Hampus Lindholm has been brilliant on the blue line in McAvoy’s absence, while previously disgruntled Jake DeBrusk is enjoying an encouraging start to the season under new coach Jim Montgomery.
Then there’s the play of Linus Ullmark, who — after Columbus’ shutout on Friday — has the league’s fifth-best five-on-five save percentage among goaltenders with at least 200 minutes in the crease.
Speaking of goaltenders, the guys from Vegas — and it’s probably worth identifying them as Logan Thompson and Adin Hill — have the best five-on-five save percentage in the league. It helped make Bruce Cassidy the new bench boss – remember him, Bruins fans? – smooth transition to his new gig despite outgoing starter Robin Lehner being lost for the season due to hip surgery.
Regardless of the upheaval that has occurred in the fold, there seems to be a certain level of calm in Vegas that, due to the organization’s frenetic “just get all the stars we can” approach. in the past, is a welcome change. Eichel looks great in his first full year; Mark Stone is healthy again and playing like his usual stellar self, while some OG Knights – William Karlsson, Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, Shea Theodore – have all been good so far.
Look, these two teams played busy schedules at home and didn’t exactly face the crème de la crème every night. The two best teams Vegas has faced — Colorado and Calgary — beat them. Both teams have just started or are about to start long roadies, so we’ll get a fuller picture of where they are in the next week.
That said, don’t bet on a major Scooby Doo-style unmasking here; what you see is probably pretty close to what you get with Vegas and Boston.
Other takeaways
• After losing to the Bruins, things got worse for Columbus on Sunday with a 7-1 drill by the New Jersey Devils. The Jackets have now been outscored 17-4 in their last three outings and only two teams — Anaheim and San Jose — have point percentages worse than Columbus’ .300 mark right now. Mercury seems to be rising in Ohio.
Meanwhile, Jesper Bratt’s show continues for the Devils, as he scored two more points against Columbus and has been on the scoresheet in all nine New Jersey games this season.
• The Devils, once 0-2, are a great example of how to avoid a slip-up early in the season and, to a lesser extent, the Minnesota Wild are too. After falling to a 0-3-0 hole, the Wild are 4-4-1 following Sunday’s 4-3 shootout win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Matt Boldy was Minny’s star with two goals and, man, can this sophomore guy play. The fast hands he showed on his first count show why such great things are within reach for this 21-year-old.
• Sliding the other way, make four straight Ls for St. Louis after starting 3-0-0. The Blues took a 3-1 lead against Montreal on Saturday in what turned into a 7-4 loss. St. Louis was outscored 20-7 in that skid and the Blues have scored just 10 five-for-five goals in seven games this season.
• Unfortunately, the Arizona Coyotes lost their first two games at Mullett Arena, but this giveaway on Friday’s opening night was a winner and a no-brainer.
weekend warrior
Suffice it to point out a monster game by Brandon Montour against Ottawa on Saturday. The Cats defenseman already had two assists on the board when he broke a 3-3 tie late in the third with a big blast. In all, he recorded 27:49 in a blistering victory in Florida.
Red and White Power Rankings
1. Calgary Flames (5-2-0): The Flames have three more home games this week to wrap up a streak where nine of their first 10 games are national affairs. It’s probably best to make a little more hay before heading out to play nine of 11 on the road.
2. Edmonton Oilers (6-3-0): Man, does this team already have Jakob Markstrom’s number. After Saturday’s big 3-2 win at Calgary, Markstom has an .884 save percentage against the Oilers as a Flame.
3. Winnipeg Jets (5-3-1): Spoiled Arizona’s debut with Mullett on Friday, then ruined Connor Hellebuyck’s 46-save performance in Vegas on Sunday by not getting the extra point in overtime .
4. Toronto Maple Leafs (4-4-1): You don’t want to reflexively overlook the early struggles, but the parallels to last season are just too glaring to ignore. Toronto went 1-4-1 in Games 2-7 last year and actually trailed Game 8 2-0 against a pretty bad Chicago team before earning an overtime win. If it gets worse from here, watch out. But there’s a chance that horrible road trip will be a distant memory in five games.
5. Ottawa Senators (4-4-0): Thomas Chabot was 44 seconds from playing halfway through the Senators’ 5-3 loss to the Panthers. Recognizing that Artem Zub is out of the lineup, other Ottawa D-men are going to have to help lighten Chabot’s load.
6. Montreal Canadiens (5-4-0): To say the least, it hasn’t always been easy sailing for Christian Dvorak in Montreal since he arrived about 13 months ago from arizona. Saturday’s hat trick in a big win over the Blues had to feel good.
7. Vancouver Canucks (2-5-2): The sample size is obviously incredibly small, but after allowing a goal in a desperately needed 5-1 win over Pittsburgh on Friday, Spencer Martin has a .944 save percentage . in eight games with Vancouver. He was also unbeaten in regulation during his brief career with the Canucks.
The week ahead
• If Alex Ovechkin pulls off a heroic Halloween effort on Monday night, he could tie Wayne Gretzky for the most road goals in NHL history at Carolina. After his empty goal in Saturday’s 3-0 loss to the Nashville Predators, Ovie has 398 goals in enemy territory, four less than Gretzky’s 402. Of course, breaking that record would also mean Ovechkin scored the most goals for a team in NHL history, too. Gordie Howe had 786 for the Detroit Red Wings and number 8, of course, scored his 783 for the Caps.
• Quinn Hughes is expected to join the Canucks after missing four games through injury. He returns just in time to face his brother, Jack, and the surging Devils when they visit British Columbia on Tuesday.
• We are going back to Europe! Okay, the Avalanche and the Blue Jackets are, but at least the rest of us get weekday afternoon hockey on Fridays. Colorado and Columbus will play Friday and Saturday in Finland. Looks like the struggling Jackets could use that time away.
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