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The NHL dropped the puck on the regular season yesterday over in Europe and about the worst thing that happened was that the Penguins/Senators game ended in overtime, and not in a shootout. Both games were very competitive and featured some highlight goals, definitely a treat for the casual fan.
For whatever reason though, the games were being shown on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) channel, which very few of us in the US get. Good news is that today you can find both games on Versus, so check your local listings. The games get underway at 12:00pm with the Lighting vs. Rangers and at 2:30 with the Senators vs. Penguins.
The first goal of the 2008-09 season was scored by Markus Naslund yesterday. The former Canuck captain who signed with New York in the offseason took a pass from Scott Gomez as time wound down in the second period and fired the puck in far side on Mike Smith (right). Good new for New York is that Naslund was one of the better players for them and Nikolai Zherdev (acquired in a trade with Columbus) preformed well too. While the Rangers were all over the Lightning in the second period, Martin St. Louis responded early in the third. Taking a pass from Vincent Lecavalier at the blue line, St. Louis skated around the defenseman to the outside and backhanded the puck top shelf. The game remained tied until six minutes left in the game when Brandon Dubinsky pounded one home on the power play to take a 2-1 lead.
Tampa Bay had a power play to try and tie it up late in the game and Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay rookie, had an excellent chance, but Henrik Lundqvist stood tall in net and didn’t allow a goal. The Rangers took the first game of the season by a 2-1 score.
The second game of the day, which took place in Stockholm, Sweden, was a bit more high scoring. Tyler Kennedy scored the first goal just 40 second in for the Pittsburgh Penguins on a wrap around feed from Jordan Staal. Shean Donovan would later tip a puck in to tie the game 1-1 midway through the first period. Although Pittsburgh had five power plays, they were not able to convert on a single one.Early in the second period during a Senators power play, Evgeni Malkin forced a turnover and on a breakaway scored the first shorthanded goal of his career. Once again Ottawa was able to come back as Danny Heatley, on the power play, hit a bouncing puck from between the circles in to the back of the net. Spezza added a power play goal five minutes later and the Senators led 3-2.
Sidney Crosby picked up his first point of the 2008-09 campaign as he passed the puck to Rob Scuderi who scored from the top of the left circle four minutes into the third period. The game remained tied and would go to overtime. As Jason Spezza tired to make a move past Evgeni Malkin with 25 seconds left (right), he lost the puck to Tyler Kennedy. Kennedy took the puck down the ice and capitalized on the turnover, scoring his second goal of the game and winning the game for Pittsburgh.
For today, here are the games:
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New York Rangers
Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New York Rangers
12:00 pm EST (Prague)
Versus
Ottawa Senators vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
2:30 pm EST(Stockholm)
CBC, Versus
Feel free to chat it up here or on the game pages (Lightning/Rangers; Senators/Penguins). Let the games begin!
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