NHL opening night: Canadians go overboard as Kings' crown slips

Four cities hosted season opening games in the National Hockey League Wednesday night. Two of them went a bit overboard. Only one of them needed to.

In Los Angeles, the banner went up for the second time in Kings’ history, and the second time in three years.

— LA Kings (@LAKings) October 9, 2014

Go Kings Go! https://t.co/VocadRfP8u

The Stanley Cup was also there; lowered from the rafters in a big, clear case to centre ice, where team captain Dustin Brown lifted it again, just like he did in the spring. Before that ceremony, the Cup had made its way along a red carpet outside the Staples Center, reportedly carried by “various Kings season-ticket holders and other individuals”.

It was at approximately that time when, some 4,000 kilometers away, thousands of people gathered at Dundas Square in downtown Toronto for a different pre-game party. The Cup was not scheduled to make an appearance, and no banners were going to be raised. Instead, everyone was mostly there to hear a band sing about stuff like Leafs’ legend Bill Barilko, or the lonely end of the rink, and to think about hockey.

This is how Canadians have had to do NHL home openers lately: singing songs about the mystique of the game. Remembering legends past. Haunted by 20 years without the Cup.

In the end, the result Wednesday night in LA and Toronto was effectively the same, though the scores were different: a home-ice loss in regulation to a divisional foe.

The Leafs started strong, matching Montreal’s speed and often out-muscling the Habs to the puck and out-shooting the Canadiens 5-0 in the opening five minutes of the game. But it was the Canadiens who opened the scoring. Max Pacioretty, back in form, slipped down the right side and flipped the puck between the post and the left leg of Leafs’ goaltender Jonathan Bernier. It was the Habs’ first shot on net. Scored, as many pointed out, by a guy wearing the number 67 – another reminder about how long it’s been since a banner was raised in this city.

The Leafs fought back, and went into the first intermission up 2-1. The lead didn’t hold. Tomas Plekanec took a nifty pass near the blue line and waited out Bernier’s pad, to scoop it around and past the line, making it 2-2.

It looked like PK Subban’s early goal in the third to make it 3-2 was going to be the winner, but the Leafs’ Morgan Reilly tied it up again with under three minutes left. But Toronto couldn’t push it to overtime. Plekanec struck again with under a minute to play, making it 4-3 and sealing it for Montreal.

Things were a bit different a few hours later in LA. By the time the last few minutes of the third rolled around in that home opener, the result was hardly still in question. The second period made it pretty clear which team would walk away 1-0 on the season. The San Jose Sharks fired home three goals – one from Patrick Marleau on the power play, two others within 15 seconds of one another – to grab the 4-0 lead that would hold as the winning tally.

The Kings were pretty miserable in the face-off circle (Jeff Carter fared best on the team, winning just 57% of those he took), and even starting goalie Jonathan Quick had to be replaced after 40 minutes and 27 shots. It was far from the best way to start a year defending the Stanley Cup, but perhaps no matter. This is the third straight home opener the Kings have lost, and that Cup banner has been raised at the end of two of those seasons.

For the Sharks, the victory was a bit of vindication against the team that sent them packing in Game 7 of Round One, after coming back from a three-game deficit. The stunning loss meant the Sharks had yet another summer to ponder a spectacular flameout, and decided part of the solution would be to remove the captaincy from Joe Thornton. He now sports an assistant’s ‘A’, sharing the group captaincy role with Marleau, Joe Pavelski, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

Maybe it’s a winning formula. Montreal has four assistant captains, too.

Perhaps Calgary should consider it, at least for home-openers; the Flames haven’t won one since 2009. That includes Wednesday night, where they fell 4-2 to a new-look Vancouver Canucks squad, backed by Ryan Miller in goal.

The Flames came out sluggish, and got into the hole early, despite being gifted an early power play. They went 0-4 with the man advantage, and watched as the Canucks made their first power play, halfway through the first, count. Calgary tied it up early in the second, but couldn’t fully recover. The Canucks answered under a minute later to make it 2-1, and added to their tally six minutes later. Jiri Hudler got one back for Calgary midway through the frame, but the Flames fell into penalty trouble near the end of the period, robbing themselves of a serious chance to get back into it.

With less than two minutes left in regulation, Henrik Sedin fired home an empty-netter to ensure the win. It was a good start for a Vancouver team in search of one. As for the Flames? Improvement is necessary. But they knew that already.

And what about that game in Boston? It was a nail-biter. Boston opened the scoring on a power-play goal from Reilly Smith halfway through the first, and sat on that lead for almost another 40 minutes before Philadelphia finally replied early in the third. The goal was credited to Sean Coutourier, but on closer inspection, it actually deflected off Bruins’ defenceman Carl Soderberg.

With time winding down, Chris Kelly, who was making his return to the lineup after missing the playoffs in the spring, started a play near centre ice. Kelly made it just inside the Flyers’ blue line before feeding the puck to Loui Eriksson, who in turn dumped it into the corner for Soderberg, who fed it to Adam McQuaid at the point. McQuaid’s shot resulted in a broken stick and a fluttering puck that Flyers’ goalie Steve Mason couldn’t handle. Kelly, meanwhile, had made his way to the net and was there to pounce on the rebound. Game over.

There are still plenty of games to play, including 12 on tap for Thursday night, so to draw many conclusions, give too much analysis or make any bold predictions from opening night would be risky. I wouldn’t want to go overboard.