NHL Roundup 9/10/14 – Opening Night – Sharks Spoil Kings Ceremony

Here is your daily NHL roundup:

  • The San Jose Sharks, who had their season and summer spoiled by blowing a 3-0 series lead in the first round last season, got a little bit of solace by beating the team who knocked them out.  It was the Los Angeles Kings’ Stanley Cup banner raising ceremony and the Sharks got two goals from Tommy Wingels and 31 saves from Antti Niemi as part of a 4-0 win.  Former Conn Smythe Trophy winner Jonathan Quick was pulled after 40 minutes, allowing 3 goals on 27 shots.  Patrick Marleau and Matt Nieto had the other San Jose goals.
  • The Montreal Canadiens’ got 2 goals from veteran Tomas Plekanec, including the game winner with just 43 seconds left as they beat original 6 rival Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3.  Max Pacioretty and P.K. Subban had the other goals for le bleu, blanc et rouge, while Carey Price stopped 24 of 27 shots.   Nazem Kadri, Tyler Bozak and Morgan Rielly replied for Toronto in a losing cause, with Jonathan Bernier stopping 28 of 32 shots sent his way.
  • The Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames 4-2, marking the 8th straight time the Flames have been unable to beat their Pacific Division rival.  Alexandre Burrows opened the scoring in the first, with Zack Kassian and Radim Vrbata adding goals in the second, and Henrik Sedin icing with an empty netter late in the third.   Paul Byron had tied the game at 1 and Jiri Hudler brought the Flames within 1 at 3-2, but Calgary could get no closer. Ryan Miller made 23 saves for his first win as a Canuck, while Jonas Hiller faced 32 shots, stopping 29 of them.
  • Chris Kelly broke a 1-1 deadlock with less than 2 minutes left to lift the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.  Reilly Smith had opened the scoring on a first period power play, and that goal held up until Sean Couturier evened the score before the third was 5 minutes old, setting up Kelly as the unlikely hero. Steve Mason made 31 saves in the loss, while his counterpart, Tuukka Rask was less busy, making 19 saves on just 20 Flyers shots.