First Impressions

The 2006-07 is underway, and the good times keep on keepin' on. The level of play has been a glorious continuation of last season, with speed and skill carrying the day. Here are some initial impressions from the first few games.

FLYER FLAP
I fear I may have vastly overrated the prospects of the Philadelphia Flyers. They're not looking so good. Granted, they're a 13-round shootout loss away from being 1-1-0, but something just doesn't seem right about the Flyers. After getting smoked 4-0 in Pittsburgh to open the season, a lot of the Philly faithful were complaining about the Penguins playing dirty. The Flyers complaining about dirty play. That's rich. Any richer and Ken Hitchcock would eat it.

As long as Peter Forsberg stays healthy, and Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and R.J. Umberger step up as expected, I still think the offense will be fine. But the blue line is a mess. I guess the club got some bad news when Mike Rathje went down with a herniated disc, but if it's one thing the Flyers can spare, it's a slow, plodding defenseman. I reckon Derian Hatcher will have to be twice as oafish now to pick up the slack. I think Hatcher would be better, though, if he put down the beer bottle and kept two hands on his stick.

Hitchcock in a hat?

And now that Keith Primeau has retired, did you hear who Philly's new defensive, shut-down center is? Petr Nedved. I rib you not. Normally dreaming of dancing cakes and fruit pies, Hitchcock had visions of turning Nedved, the master of the lazy hook and apathetic backcheck, into a Selke nominee. So far the experiment is having the expected results. In two games, Nedved is pointless and a minus-4. That seems about right. It looks like Hitchcock can't trust anyone... except Chef Boyardee.

Oh, and how about that Flyer goaltending? Robert Esche gave up four on 21 shots in the opener, and Antero Niittymaki allowed four more on 30 shots in game two. At what point will Bobby Clarke realize the importance of goaltending?

I mean, after winning two Cups with Bernie Parent, one would think Clarke would have an appreciation for the position. Yet each and every year, without fail, he spits in the eye of common sense and tries to cut corners in net, rolling out one stumblebum after another between the pipes.

In picking the Flyers to be near the top of the Atlantic, I assumed Clarke would trade for a goaltender at some point. But that could have been wishful thinking. Since Clarke became the GM in 1994-95, the Flyers have gone to battle with a motley assortment of washed-up retreads and no-talent stiffs, including the likes of Ron Hextall, Dominic Roussel, Garth Snow, Sean Burke, John Vanbiesbrouck, Brian Boucher, Roman Cechmanek, and Jeff Hackett. Forget Palm Springs, Philadelphia is where old, mediocre goaltenders go to retire. How did Clarke miss out on signing Dominik Hasek?

NO "D" IN NASHVILLE
Favored by many, including this here scribe, to win the Central Division, the Nashville Predators have scored 11 goals in their first two game and still don't have a win. That's right, the Preds have somehow found a way to give up 14 goals, losing 8-6 to the Chicago Blackhawks and 6-5 to the Minnesota Wild, hardly two of the more-feared offenses in hockey.

Tomas Vokoun was in net for both disasters, yielding 13 goals on just 66 shots. While Vokoun could still be rounding into shape from his hip injury last season, he can hardly take all the blame. Killing a penalty once in a while might help. The Preds have allowed seven power-play goals in 10 chances. But you have to admit, it is a lot easier to clear the zone once you pull the puck out of the net.

DETROIT DEFENSIVE
I got to watch the Red Wings play the other night, so you know it was a banner day at the LCS offices. Detroit totally stifled Sidney Crosby and the Penguins, blanking Pittsburgh 2-0 and allowing a total of 13 shots.

Crosby didn't look good at all. While he did create his share of chances, including a real wizard spinning backhander, and could have easily had a couple points if his teammates hit the net, his passing was off most of the night, and he seemed frustrated in the face of Detroit's mobile, veteran blue line, led by Nicklas Lidstrom and Mathieu Schneider. Niklas Kronwall was also mighty impressive, logging 22:42 in ice time and looking like Lidstrom's little brother. Or grandson.

Detroit pretty much played a flawless defensive game. And they did it with skating and smarts. It was a brilliantly-executed plan. Of course, it didn't hurt they were up against the youngest team in the NHL. The Penguins simply didn't know how to change the course of events. Give the Birds credit, they tried to stay patient and managed to keep the score 1-0 until Kris Draper scored with a little over a minute left to put the game away. A bounce here or there and the outcome could have easily been different.

The Red Wings lost their opener at home, 3-1, to Vancouver, but they only allowed 17 shots in defeat. The Winged-Wheel will win a lot of games if they keep the shots under 20. But I still don't see much offense on this club. And any veteran team with any sense at all will simply run the Wings out of the building. They're painfully soft. Let's see them stick to that disciplined defensive scheme once someone punches them in the mouth. The line forms behind me.

Detroit's got Buffalo and Phoenix at home this week, but the Wings' first real test will come the following week during a West Coast swing through Anaheim and San Jose. Enjoy Todd Fedoruk.

FLEURY DOING FINE
Even though he took the loss, and dropped a bit early on the Draper goal, Pittsburgh's Marc- Andre Fleury continued to shine, earning more rave reviews. Detroit coach Mike Babcock is the latest convert.

"We played two of the top goalies in the National Hockey League in the last two games," said Babcock in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "We played (Roberto) Luongo, and we played his little brother (Saturday). They're the same guy; they do the same stuff -- top-flight goaltending."

Speak on, brother.

MALKIN UPDATE
Perhaps catching wind of the optimism surrounding Evgeni Malkin's recovery, Pittsburgh issued a statement saying his shoulder would be re-evaluated after two more weeks of rehabilitation, meaning he'll likely miss five more games.

While that sounds ominous, everyone who's seen him practice says he's looking great. He was even taking slappers the other day. Good luck limiting the Penguins to 13 shots once Malkin gets in the lineup. Gretzky and Lemieux, together again. Every game will be like the 1987 Canada Cup.

OVECHKIN HAS HELP
When was the last time someone on the Washington Capitals overshadowed Alexander Ovechkin? While Ovehckin did bag his first two goals of the season in a 5-2 win over Carolina Saturday night, Alexander Semin connected for his first career hat trick, already giving him four goals on the young season.

Semin showed plenty of promise in his rookie season with the Caps back in 2003-04, when he went for 10 goals and 22 points in 52 games as a 19-year-old. After two years in Russia squabbling with the Caps about his contract, Semin has returned, more mature and more willing to shoot the puck. Semin has already launched 10 shots on goal in his first two games. And his wrist shot is wicked good. He's gonna score a ton of goals in this league. What Malkin is to Crosby, Semin could be to Ovechkin, giving the Caps a lethal one-two punch.

But how much would it suck to have drafted Semin in your fantasy hockey league only to have him on your bench the first two games? Yeah, what kind of an idiot would do that? Talk about a moron. But I promise I won't do it again.

CRAZY 8s
In other Ovechkin news, good ol' AO purchased eight tickets for every Caps home game and will donate them to deserving kids in the Washington D.C. area. The kids who get the tickets will be known as the Crazy 8s, and each one will receive a foam 8, while one lucky tyke will get to ride the zamboni during intermission. Yeehaw.

LCS Hockey has started a similar program. But instead of donating hockey tickets to needy kids, we donate money to needy liquor stores in exchange for gin. Charity starts at home.

MATTRESS LINE II
Markus Naslund has been skating with Henrik and Daniel Sedin on Vancouver's top line. Back in the day, when the Sedins played with Jason King, the trio was dubbed the Mattress Line since there were two twins and a King. Well, I think the name still fits, except now it's two twins and a Queen.

KING KOPITAR
Speaking of royalty, Los Angeles beat St. Louis the other night, 4-1, to claim its first win of the young season. The Kings have been getting an unexpected offensive boost from 19-year-old Anze Kopitar, who's tallied two goals and five points in his first two contests. The 6'4", 220- pound center is also averaging 21:30 of ice time, which is only a few seconds behind Rob Blake and Lubomir Visnovsky for the team lead.

Kopitar is from Slovenia. I'm not really sure where that is, but I think it's where Latka Gravas came from on "Taxi." So that's pretty cool. And, thanks to my handy NHL pronunciation guide, I know his name is pronounced AHN-jay KOH-pi-tar. Thank you very much.

EAVING SO SOON?
It looks like the Patrick Eaves experiment could be over in Ottawa. Eaves won the lottery this preseason, being selected to play the left wing for Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley. But, much like Brandon Bochenski struggled last season in the same gig, Eaves could find himself demoted after going for one goal, one assist, and a minus-3 in the first three games, as the Senators tripped out of the gate to a 1-2-0 start.

Bryan Murray reunited Daniel Alfredsson with Spezza and Heatley for the third period of their 4- 3 loss to Buffalo Saturday night, resulting in two goals and four assists. The Sens will keep the big line together, dropping Eaves to the second unit with Mike Fisher and Peter Schaefer.

But what kind of an idiot would draft Eaves in their fantasy hockey league one year after also falling prey to the Bochenski hype? Talk about a moron. But I promise I'll never do it again.

HANGOVERS SUCK
Somebody pour the Hurricanes a cup of coffee. Carolina is 0-2-1, and they've been outscored 12-4. Who could have seen this coming? Oh, wait, I did.

BUFFALO STAMPEDE
The Buffalo Donald Trumps have picked up where they left off last season, winning their first three games. Yeah, that's great and all, but it's only a matter time before the smell of cheap toupee glue gets to 'em.

BOSTON AND FLORIDA MAKE IT FUN
The Boston Bruins and Florida Panthers had interesting weekends. The two opened up their respective seasons against each other on Friday night, with Todd Bertuzzi and the Panthers steamrolling the Bruins, 8-3.

But the Bears bounced back on Saturday night behind the goaltending of Hannu Toivonen, edging Tampa Bay 3-2 on Patrice Bergeron's first goal of the season. When I picked Boston to win the East, I did so knowing Toivonen would emerge as the starter. Tim Thomas can be a solid backup, but Toivonen has to be the man in Beantown. Might as well let the future start now.

Meanwhile, in Atlanta, the Thrashers whacked the Panthers, 6-0. Ed Belfour got the start in net for Florida, allowing four goals on nine shots before getting the hook. The Pidgeon looked old and confused in net, at one point stopping action to request some pudding. When Belfour was removed from the game, he skated the whole way to the bench with his left turn signal on. So sad.

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