About the Maple Leafs - 10-18-08

A preview of the Maple Leafs.



Record: 1-1-2

Leading Scorer: Nikolai Kulemin, 2 points (2 goals).

Last Game: 1-0 shootout loss to the Rangers in New York last night.

Last Game against the Penguins: 6-2 loss in Pittsburgh, Jan. 3.

Maple Leafs Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Nikolai Antropov. He had 6 points (2 goals, 4 assists) in four games against the Penguins last season.

Ex-Penguins: Dominic Moore (above), C, Dennis Bonvie, pro scout.

Useless Maple Leafs Trivia: The 25^th Amendment of the United States Constitution, which clarifies succession to the Presidency, was added to the Constitution 23 days after the Maple Leafs most recent Stanley Cup championship in 1967.

Best Capitals YouTube Video We Could Find: Elmo of Sesame Street is not a fan of the Maple Leafs (and he's fluent in French apparently):

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73C0runl3c4]
 
(Kudos to EN reader Gianni Vitucci of Hamilton, Ont. for the find.)

Notes:

-If you want to scream taunts at Kulemin, they better be in Russian.

-Toronto defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo isn't happy about being scratched.

-Our live blog starts at 6:30 approximately. Please tune in.

EMPTY NETTER ASSISTS

Penguins

-Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Together again.

-Should Crosby and Malkin be on the same line together? Vote on it here.

-The great Mike Zigomanis is dealing with an unspecified injury.

-Two shootout goals from former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin Kurtis McLean gave the Bridgeport Sound Tigers a 4-3 win against the AHL Penguins.

-McLean was booed in his return to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

-Janne Pesonen had a coming out party last night.

-Deryk Engelland dropped the gloves last night:

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2BOkI5_0XA]
 
(Kudos to Faceoff-Factor for the find.)

-Andrew Lord had two goals and an assist for the Wheeling Nailers in a season-opening 7-5 win against Cincinnati.

Atlantic Division

-Rangers defenseman Marc Staal had a fight last night with Toronto's Jamal Mayers. He didn't fare so well:

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_ziTUdVlCw]
 
-With forward Brian Rolston dealing with an ankle injury, forward Petr Vrana will make his debut with the Devils tonight.

-New Jersey demoted defenseman Anssi Salmela was demoted to Lowell of the AHL.

-The Devils are having trouble scoring goals.

-Are the Flyers in trouble?

Northeast Division

-Jason Spezza had two goals and two assists for the Senators in a 6-3 defeat of the Coyotes. Daniel Alfredsson played for Ottawa despite having underwent knee surgery a week ago. Former Penguins forward Jarkko Ruutu had two goals for the Senators. Fire Ray Shero.

-Thomas Vanek had a goal and two assists for the Sabres in a 5-2 win against the Canucks. A 4-0-0, the Sabres are the only undefeated team in the Eastern Conference.

-Check out the fight Buffalo's Adam Peters had with Vancouver's Darcy Hordichuk last night:

[View:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTa7eDdhdDs]

-The addition of Craig Rivet and the return of Teppo Numminen have brought stability to the Sabres' blue line.

-Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau has a ton of options with his lineup.

Southeast Division

-The Capitals recalled forward Chris Bourque from Hershey of the AHL. He is the son of hall-of-famer Ray Bourque.

-The Hurricanes reached an injury settlement with defenseman David Tanabe.

-Forward Zach Boychuk, the Hurricanes' 2008 first-round pick, made his NHL debut last night.

-The Lightning has changed its line combinations for approximately the 232^nd time this season.

-Tampa Bay coach and former Wild forward Wes Walz will be facing his former team for the first time.

-The Thrashers put former Penguins Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen on a line together.

-Panthers defenseman Bryan Allen is dealing with a knee injury.

Central Division

-Two goals from Rick Nash helped the Blue Jackets beat the Predators, 5-3.

-Columbus goaltender Pascal Leclaire (right) suffered a thumb injury last night.

-Blue Jackets forward Mike Peca has his suspension for abusing an official reduced from 10 games to five.

-The Blue Jackets are losing some corporate sponsorship.

-Blues goaltender Chris Mason will be out of the lineup for two weeks after undergoing an appendectomy.

-Red Wings defenseman Brad Stuart is dealing with a bruised knee.

-Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane took the firing of former coach Denis Savard hard.

-Chicago hired former Penguins defenseman Marc Bergevin as an assistant coach.

Northwest Division

-Lubomir Visnovsky had a goal and assist for the Oilers who edged their rivals, the Flames, 4-3.

-The Canucks put forward Kyle Wellwood on waivers.

-The Wild recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Krys Kolanos on an emergency basis from Houston of the AHL.

-Minnesota has been getting production from the Andrew Brunnette/Mikko Koivu/Antti Miettinen line.

-The Oilers apparently didn't get that memo about the NHL being a new media-friendly league. They booted the Covered In Oil blog out of their press box.

-The Avalanche will go with goaltender Andrew Raycroft for the second consecutive game.

Pacific Division

-Jean-Sebastien Giguere (right) made 38 saves and led the Ducks to a 4-0 shutout of the Sharks. The win was the first this season for Anaheim. Conversely, San Jose suffered its first loss of the season.

-Two goals by Michal Handzus, including one in overtime, gave the Kings a 4-3 win against the Hurricanes.

-The Kings signed Matt Greene to a five-year deal worth $14.75 million.

-Are the Kings' attendance problems a result of the economy?

-Coyotes forward and former Penguins prospect Daniel Carcillo was suspended for two games for trying to fight Blackhawks forward Ben Eager from the bench.

-The Ducks have put forward Chris Kunitz back on their first line.

-With forward Milan Michalek dealing with an unspecified injury, the Sharks recalled Brad Staubitz from Worcester of the AHL.

Adams Division

-Another Russian hockey player died but it wasn't during a game this time. Artur Bagautdinov, a goaltender in Russia's equivalent of the AHL, died after falling out of an apartment window.

(Photos: Moore-Nathan Denette/Canadian Press; Crosby and Malkin-Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press; Leclaire-Ronald Martinez/Getty Images; Giguere-Mark Avery/Associated Press)