Dose: Smith cools off Kings
There were five games in the NHL on Friday and it was quite interesting as the first game was played in Brooklyn since World War 2 and Mike Babcock made his first official visit to Detroit after coaching the Red Wings the last 10 seasons.
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CHICAGO 3 NEW YORK ISLANDERS 2 (Overtime)
After 43 years at the Nassau County Coliseum the Islanders moved to Brooklyn and opened their season with a 3-2 overtime loss to the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks a 4-3.
Patrick Kane led the way with two goals including the overtime winner while Artem Anisimov scored the first NHL regular season goal at the Barclay Center.
The Islanders tied it up twice, first by John Tavares and then Marek Zidlicky had the lone goal of the third to send it into OT.
Thomas Greiss was in goal for the Islanders, replacing the injured Jaroslav Halak. Greiss stopped 32 of 35 shots while his counterpart Corey Crawford stopped 34 for his first win of the season.
WINNIPEG 3 NEW JERSEY 1
The Winnipeg Jets continued their winning ways as they won their second straight of the season, defeating the Devils 3-1.
Winnipeg went with Michael Hutchinson in this one after Ondrej Pavelec gave up two goals Thursday in a 6-2 win over Boston. Hutchinson stopped 20 shots for the win while Cory Schneider gave up all three goals on 30 shots to take the loss.
All the scoring was done in the second as Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Andrew Ladd on the power play found the back of the net.
It was Jiri Tlusty with his first who scored the lone New Jersey goal. The Devils will struggle for goals all season as they are weak up front.
DETROIT 4 TORONTO 0
It was quite a night of firsts at the Joe Louis Arena as the Red Wings shut out the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0.
It was the return of Mike Babcock to the place he had coached the previous ten seasons and it was the first game for Dylan Larkin who potted his first NHL goal as well as an assist.
Larkin’s linemate Justin Abdelkader scored the other three goals to give him his second NHL hat trick while Henrik Zetterberg set up three goals.
Jimmy Howard stopped all 22 shots for his first shutout of the season. The Leafs started Jonathan Bernier but he was pulled 20 seconds into the second stanza as he gave up three goals on only nine shots. James Reimer, who will get the start in goal Saturday night against the Senators, stopped 12 of 13 shots sent his way in the last 39:40.
It was not the homecoming that Mike Babcock anticipated getting when the schedule came out.
NEW YORK RANGERS 4 COLUMBUS 2
Mats Zuccarello started and ended the scoring with a couple of goals and Kevin Hayes picked up the winner with only 2:19 left in the game as the Rangers upended the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2.
Oscar Lindberg with his second of the campaign, also scored for the New Yorkers while Cam Atkinson and Brandon Saad on the power play, replied for Columbus.
Henrik Lundqvist upped his record to 2-0 as he stopped 31 of 33 shots while Sergei Bobrovsky was handed the loss as he could only keep out 21 of 25 shots.
Ryan McDonagh was a plus-four in the contest.
Alex Wennberg suffered a concussion when hit by Chris Kreider.
ARIZONA 4 LOS ANGELES 1
Mike Smith certainly did not pick up where he left off last season as the Arizona netminder was outstanding while in 2014-15 he was anything but.
Smith kicked aside 40 of 41 shots to lead the Coyotes to a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Quick was in the Kings cage and he managed to stop only 18 of 22 shots sent his way.
Max Domi, the Coyotes first round pick and 12th overall in the 2014 Draft, made his NHL debut and the son of Tie managed to score once and add an assist.
Zbynek Michalek opened the scoring for Arizona on a weak shot from the point and Oliver Ekman-Larsson doubled the lead before the end of the first period. Tobias Rieder scored in the second to make it 4-0 before Tyler Toffoli scored the lone Kings goal. It was shorthanded, something Toffoli is very good at as he led the NHL in shorthanded goals last season with five.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
GOALS
Justin Abdelkader 3
Patrick Kane 2
Mats Zuccarello 2
ASSISTS
Henrik Zetterberg 3
Mathieu Perreault 2
Martin Hanzal 2
SHOTS
Dylan Larkin 6
Johnny Boychuk 5
Travis Hamonic 5
Nikolaj Ehlers 5
Dustin Brown 5
HITS
Matt Martin 7
Ryan Garbutt 6
Jarret Stoll 6
PENALTY MINUTES
Jared Boll 4
Jordan Nolan 4
PLUS /MINUS
Ryan McDonagh +4
Dylan Larkin +3
Henrik Zetterberg +3
BLOCKS
Andy Greene 4
Martin Marincin 4
Dan Boyle 4
Trevor Daley 4
Alec Martinez 4
PLUS/MINUS
Many at -2
