NHL week two round-up

A thoroughly entertaining second week of the new season brought a total 312 goals and probably the game of the season with the Jets seeing off the Flyers nine goals to eight in Philadelphia! We have also seen a fair few upsets and some of last season’s strugglers continuing to excel this time around.

Starting with the Eastern conference and the Pittsburgh Penguins have started well without Crosby, getting 18 points from their first 12 games, beating the Canucks and the Canadians in the process. Pittsburgh also have the joint top goal scorer in the league, with James Neal having netted nine goals already.

The Capitals are hot on their heels with 14 points from just eight games, with their first loss coming last night to the Edmonton Oilers in Alberta. The Caps have really worked as a unit this year, with no one pulling ahead in terms of point scoring and their new addition Tomas Vokoun has been great in between the pipes, providing great early season consistency for Washington.

In terms of surprises in the East, the Toronto Maple Leafs top their division and sit third in the Eastern conference, winning six of their first nine games. Phil Kessell is their early outstanding performer, tied with Neal for goals and tops the league in points with 16. This time next week we will have a better idea as to whether the Leafs are serious contenders for the playoffs or not.

To finish off the East, we move on to the Stanley Cup holders, the Boston Bruins, who surprisingly sit rock bottom of the East with just three wins from nine games. The majority of the Bruin’s losses have been by a single goal and this is where they will be looking towards their big players to get go-ahead goals and shut these games out. Having the Stanley Cup to their name brings huge expectations from the Bruin’s huge fan base and if Boston don’t start to turn it around soon, the fans will start to turn on them.

Moving onto the West now where the Dallas Stars occupy the number 1 spot with seven wins from their first ten games. Not many people fancy the Stars for a playoff spot, but they have had a great start and have won three divisional games already, which are absolutely crucial to success. Kari Lehtonen is their standout performer, with seven wins and a save percentage of .945.

The Edmonton Oilers have 12 points already this year from 9 games and are first in their division and third in the Western conference. The Oilers have noticeably beaten the Rangers, Capitals and Canucks so far and their top scorer is Ryan Nugent-Hopkins who is in his first year in the NHL after being picked up in the entry draft. A very bright start for the Oilers, and with Nugent-Hopkins and Taylor-Hall developing every day, the future also looks bright.

The only other highlight in the West is that the Columbus Blue Jackets have only one win this year, which came over the Detroit Red Wings. They had a fairly decent year last season, finishing with 34 wins and 81 points but failed to make the playoffs. It will be interesting to see if the Blue Jackets can bounce back and have a decent year or whether they will be playing the chasing game throughout the course of the season.

Another great week of NHL action is in store in week three, including match ups such as the Sharks at Red Wings, Penguins at Leafs, Caps at Canucks and Flyers at Tampa Bay.