Stars of the night
--The Penguins. Seriously. Two adjectives come to mind about the 5-1 win over the Blues: Emphatic and resounding. Five different goal scorers, 13 players with a point. Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby combined for two points.
--Chris Mason, 31 saves in two periods. Seriously again. Absolutely no support in the loss, kept the game closer than it should've been. Pittsburgh out-shot St. Louis, 20-3, in the first period, and 15-8 in the second. Expected a much better effort from the Blues.
--Jarome Iginla, 1 goal, 2 assists; Calgary thumps Columbus, 6-3.
Working late
Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta scored in the shootout to give Montreal a 2-1 win over Atlanta. Gionta had the Habs' regulation goal. Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves in the win, while Ondrej Pavelec earned second-star honors in the losing effort with 34 saves. Montreal (3-5-0) avoided its worst start in nearly 70 years with the win. The 1940 Habs were 1-10-1.
Two-pronged quick strike
I wrote before that the Penguins are really good at scoring multiple goals very quickly. They did it twice Tuesday. Tyler Kennedy and Malkin scored 71 seconds apart in the first period, and Matt Cooke followed a goal by Ruslan Fedotenko with one 36 seconds later in the second. The problem is Sergei Gonchar hurt either his wrist or shoulder, apparently. Would be a huge blow if he's out for an extended period.
Not going down in Flames this time
Calgary conceded two power play goals early in the second period, turning a 3-1 lead into a 3-3 tie, but stormed back to score the next three goals, including Dion Phaneuf's fifth of the season and Jarome Iginla's third. Jay Bouwmeester scored his first and added an assist.
Quote of the night
"It's not a good feeling when you come back to the bench and your teammates are surprised that you have a shot like that. It kind of hurts your feelings a little bit."
Canadiens forward Scott Gomez, on his shootout goal
(No idea what the heck that's all about, but wow! Doesn't sound like a fun locker room in Montreal.)
Marquee matchup
Wednesday, Oct. 21 (6 games)
Canucks (3-5-0) at Blackhawks (5-2-1), 8:30 p.m. ET and available on the NHL Network. Rematch of a 2009 Western Conference semifinal, known most notably for Bob Luongo giving up seven in the deciding game. And the Hawks are scoring a lot this season. Cristobal Huet will have a good view from the bench. Yep, he's not starting, again.
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