NHL Recap 10-13-09

Stars of the night
--Thomas Vanek, 2 goals; Derek Roy, 3 assists in Buffalo's 6-2 win over Detroit.
--Rick Nash, 2 assists in Columbus' 2-1 win over Calgary.
--Craig Anderson, 30 saves in Colorado's 4-1 win over Toronto.

Good signing, Brian
This is mainly an editorial, but I can't help myself. Mike Komisarek might be the worst free agent signing of the season so far. He was a minus-2 Tuesday and a minus-4 for the season. But it goes beyond that. The Maple Leafs trailed, 2-0, then got a goal from Francois Beauchemin to get back into the game. Less than a minute later, Komisarek took a careless elbowing penalty and Colorado scored on that power play to suck away the momentum Toronto built.

Later, Komisarek went out of his way to throw a big hit in the defensive zone, got out of position, then had the puck bounce off his head and into his own net once he got back into position. He's hitting people, sure (six Tuesday and 23 for the season) but he's hurting the team far more than he's helping with undisciplined play. And he's making $22.5 million the next five years. He better improve his game and control his violent tendencies. He's not Toronto's only problem but certainly he's a big one.

The Maple Leafs are awful. 0-5-1 now and not even in a lot of these games. How much longer will Ron Wilson - who made two of his only decent offensive players healthy scratches Tuesday - keep his job? Brian Burke should make Wilson a healthy scratch and see if that helps.

Did you know?
That the Sabres lead the league in shots per game? They're up to 38.2 per game now through four games, but they've scored only 10 goals. Who would have thought six would come against the Red Wings? Unfortunately it came with a price, as top winger Thomas Vanek, a two-time 40-goal scorer, suffered an upper-body injury and will be out for "weeks," according to coach Lindy Ruff. No exact time frame was provided.

Quote of the night
"I'm not going to lie to you, it felt great."
Colorado's Darcy Tucker, who scored against Toronto. The Leafs bought out Tucker in the summer of 2008 and are paying him $1 million per year through 2014.

Marquee matchup
Wednesday, Oct. 14
Kings (4-1-0) at Rangers (5-1-0), 7 p.m. ET. I'm tempted to go with Chicago and Edmonton to see what the Blackhawks do for an encore, but Los Angeles-New York pits two teams who haven't lost since their opener and who have impressive offenses. The Rangers have scored the most goals in the Eastern Conference and the Kings average almost four goals per game.