Three Up, Three Down — Reacting To The NHL’s First Week
We’re one week into the 2021-22 NHL season and the Buffalo Sabres are undefeated.
It’s waaaaaay too early to draw conclusions about anything, but, hey, that’s never stopped anybody before.
In this week’s Three Up, Three Down, we’ll take a quick spin around the league and look at who’s going well to start the year and who’s doing poorly. Spoiler alert: I’m not going to entertain the idea that Buffalo’s start is at all sustainable, but I might lean into Connor McDavid’s 205-point pace a little bit.
UP: Pittsburgh Penguins
No Sidney Crosby? No Evgeni Malkin? No problem!
The Penguins have been a hot pick to fall off a cliff this season due to their aging core, but, so far they’ve been able to navigate the injuries to their two best players. Crosby is out for the first few weeks of the season after undergoing wrist surgery and Malkin will miss the first two months of play after having knee surgery.
In their absence, another veteran, Jeff Carter, has stepped up with four points in three games. Meanwhile, depth forwards Danton Heinen and Evan Rodrigues have chipped in with three and two goals, respectively. Perhaps the biggest positive is that goaltender Tristan Jarry has been lights out, stopping 44 of the 48 shots he’s faced.
2-0-1 is much better than anybody expected from the Penguins sans Crosby and Malkin.
UP: Florida Panthers
For the first time in their history, the Florida Panthers entered a season with expectations.
They enjoyed a breakout season in 2020-21, putting up a 37-14-5 record before bowing out in the first round of the playoffs to their in-state rival, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Given the COVID-shortened schedule, there was still some skepticism that the Panthers were legit, but they’re proving this year that last season’s success wasn’t a mirage.
The Panthers are 2-0 and have scored 10 goals through their first two games. Sam Bennett’s hot play from last season has carried over as he has three goals in two games. Aaron Ekblad isn’t showing any rust after his season was prematurely ended due to injury last year and Sergei Bobrovsky has a .935 save percentage.
The Joel Quenneville-led Panthers are a much different team than the Panthers teams we’ve known in the past.
UP: Edmonton Oilers
They’ve only played a pair of middling opponents, Vancouver and Calgary, so far, but the Oilers are undefeated a week into the season with a 2-0-0 record. That’s a good sign for a team with a lot of new faces in the mix.
Mike Smith seems to have carried over the magic he found last year, as the grizzled veteran has stopped 81 of the 85 shots he’s faced thus far. Also, Jesse Puljujarvi’s breakout season is off to a great start, as the young Finn has two goals and four points through two games. I would guess that he’s going to shatter his career-high of 25 points.
Finally, we have an early look at last year’s Art Ross, Hart, and Pearson winner: Connor McDavid. He has five points thus far, putting him on pace to score 205 over 82 games. He scored at a 154-point pace last season and I don’t think two points per game is out of the question here.
DOWN: Montreal Canadiens
The Habs are 0-3-0 so far and they’ve only scored three goals in their three games. Also, one of their losses came against the Sabres by a score of 5-1, so that basically counts as two losses.
Yep, the Habs are a mess. The only positives so far are Jonathan Drouin, who has 66 percent of the team’s goals, and Jake Allen, who has a .925 save percentage in two outings.
DOWN: New York Islanders
The Islanders are a popular under-the-radar pick to compete for the Stanley Cup this year given the fact they’ve reached the Conference Final in back-to-back seasons.
But, so far, they don’t look like a contender at all, as they’re 0-2-0, and the stingy defense and elite goaltending that ultimately makes them successful has allowed 11 goals through two games.
Now, to be fair to the Islanders, they’re currently without starting goaltender Semyon Varlamov and their two games have come against good teams, Florida and Carolina. It’s pretty safe to assume that things are going to be tough for the Islanders over their first few weeks of the season given they don’t play a home game until Nov. 20.
A poor start appears inevitable here but things will get better once they finally start playing at Belmont.
DOWN: Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators have made the playoffs in each of the past seven seasons but they haven’t come close to reaching the Stanley Cup Final since their trip in 2017. The window that appeared to be so wide open that spring now appears shut.
The Preds are 0-2-0 through their first two games and their offense looks pretty bleak, as the team has mustered just five goals. Juuse Saros has been solid thus far, posting a .911 save percentage in his first two outings, but Nashville isn’t going to go anywhere if they can’t score.
This obviously seems like an overreaction after two games, but Nashville finished 20th in the league in goals last season, they didn’t get any better over the summer, and this could be the year the wheels fall off.
If that’s the case, expect to see Filip Forsberg’s name in trade conversations. He’s a free agent at the end of the season and might not want to stick around.
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