It was scoreless for the first 20 minutes in Detroit where everyone was excited to see Patrick Kane make his debut for the Red Wings. Kane was held off the scoreboard, but he seemed to be the only one as the teams combined for 11 goals in a 6-5 overtime win for the San Jose Sharks.
Despite the lack of offense from their newest forward, the Red Wings went up 4-0 over a 4:35 stretch in the second period. So, of course the Sharks spent the next 5:29 tying the game up. Detroit took the lead in the third only to see Tomas Hertl tied it with under two minutes to go. Mikhail Granlund won it 37 seconds into overtime (and picked up his 500th career point). What a game.
Lightning / NHL News
Lightning lose special teams battle and game [Raw Charge]
It’s not the end of the world, but it’s also not the best way to start a road trip. At least Alex Barre-Boulet broke his goalless streak.
32 Thoughts: Leafs looks for help on the blueline [SportsNet]
John Klingberg is out for the season and Timothy Liljegren and Mark Giordano are hurt. Could be tough sledding for the Leafs. Thursday’s action didn’t help as goaltender Joseph Woll left the game with a leg injury.
Macklin Celebrini leads Team Canada U20 Roster [NHL.com]
The presumptive first overall pick in next year’s draft leads a pretty good roster even if Connor Bedard isn’t going to be there. Owen Beck, Nate Danielson, and Brayden Yager are other prospects that will don the Maple Leaf for the tournament. There are no Lightning prospects on the roster. Nor are there any on Slovakia’s preliminary roster.
Ovechkin hits the 1500 point mark [Russian Machine Never Breaks]
Alex Ovechkin became the 16th player in NHL history, and the second active player along with Sidney Crosby, to accumulate 1500 points at the NHL level. Evgeni Malkin is the next closest active player to the mark with 1250. Steven Stamkos would need a few more strong seasons to get close as he’s sitting at 1,082.
Which bubble teams should consider pulling the plug? [Daily Faceoff]
Is it a bit early for teams to be giving up on the season?
