News

Stat of the week: 22-for-22

The Minnesota Wild were perfect in the penalty-killing department through the first seven games of the season, the first team to manage that feat since the 1962 Toronto Maple Leafs. The streak ended Wednesday night when the Dallas Stars' Matt Niskanen scored with four seconds to go in a penalty to defenceman Nick Schultz. The record is held by the 1955 Montreal Canadiens, who didn't give up a power-play goal in the first 10 games of the season.

NHL Quotables:

"I was about 9 years old, playing minor hockey for the Toronto Marlies."

Columbus Blue Jackets forward Rick Nash, who is getting a chance to play centre after a 15-year hiatus.

"He doesn't give up bad goals. That's what you want from your goalie. He gives us a chance to win."

Minnesota Wild coach Jacques Lemaire, on Nicklas Backstrom, one of three NHL goalies to play every minute this season. Backstrom had a 2.23 GAA and a .923 save percentage through eight games.

"It's a good lesson for us. Not every game's going to be easy. It's a tough league. That's what makes this game so interesting and so exciting. It's a battle every night. Can't take teams for granted."

Avalanche forward Ryan Smyth, after the team's 3-0 shutout loss to Calgary ended a five-game Colorado win streak.

Around the rinks:

• Good news for the slumping, defensively challenged Dallas Stars: Sergei Zubov, their best all-round defenceman, is scheduled to make his season debut tonight after recovering from off-season hip surgery.
• Bad news for the slumping, defensively challenged Columbus Blue Jackets: Monday's announced crowd of 10,494 was the lowest in team history by about 1,300 fans.
• That once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to watch the NHL's Outdoor Classic at Wrigley Field in Chicago will come with a hefty price tag. The Blackhawks announced that season-ticket holders will get first crack in three price ranges: $325, $225 and $75, which is what the bleacher seats are going for. The Cubs, incidentally, get anywhere from $22 to $45 for a bleacher seat, depending upon whether the game is designated a value, regular or prime date.
• Trivia time: Saku and Mikko Koivu, both off to excellent starts with the Montreal Canadiens and the Minnesota Wild, respectively, are also the first brothers to captain their teams since Brian and Darryl Sutter did it with the St. Louis Blues and the Chicago Blackhawks in the mid-1980s. In the Wild's system of alternating the captaincy, Mikko will give way to Andrew Brunette for the start of November.
• Mikko's 12 assists in seven games was the most by any player since Wayne Gretzky had 13 for the Kings in 1993-94. Since then, four players besides Koivu had a dozen assists through their team's first seven games: Adam Oates (1995-96 Bruins), Jaromir Jagr (1998-99 Penguins), Mario Lemieux (2002-03) and Peter Forsberg (2005-06 Flyers).
• The unluckiest player in the NHL may be Boston Bruins forward Chuck Kobasew, who had the distinction of breaking his leg in his final game of last year and then fracturing his ankle in his first game this year. Kobasew made the Bruins' Western Canada swing and expects to be playing again by next week.
• While the Bruins were away, rink attendants in Boston fixed an embarrassing faux pas, in which the faceoff dots at one end of the ice were painted too far from the goal line. It took until the third home game of the season before anyone noticed.
• Those back-to-back 1-0 shutouts by Bruins goalie Tim Thomas against Edmonton and Vancouver this week marked only the second time in NHL history that a team has won consecutive games, both on the road, by a 1-0 score. Weirdly, the only other time it happened came last March, when the Florida Panthers' Craig Anderson recorded 1-0 victories over the Islanders in Uniondale and the Bruins in Boston.

Power rankings: Current, (previous), team

1. (3) Detroit: How did they lose that opener to Toronto again?

2. (11) New York Rangers: European hangover, what European hangover?

3. (2) San Jose: So far, the most balanced attack in the league

4. (16) Minnesota: Mikko Koivu, out from under his brother's shadow

5. (4) Montreal: Saku Koivu, off to his best start in years

6. (9) Buffalo: Ryan Miller, October's Vezina trophy winner

7. (10) New Jersey: Brodeur closing in fast on Roy, Sawchuk records

8. (5) Pittsburgh: Malkin, Crosby and not much else

9. (15) Boston: Yes, coach Julien really is a miracle worker

10. (8) Calgary: Slowly getting there, after abysmal start

11. (3) Anaheim: See Calgary

12. (18) Washington: Can Semin outscore Ovechkin over the long haul?

13. (21) Colorado: Thanks to the resurrection of Peter Budaj

14. (29) St. Louis: Relying on NHL's No. 1 power play to stay close

15. (12) Philadelphia:Young kids starting to jell nicely

16. (19) Vancouver: Roberto's stats decidedly un-Luongo-like

17. (23) Carolina: Competitive, despite unbelievable run of injuries

18. (13) Edmonton: Kid Line struggles mirror larger offensive woes

19. (6) Dallas: Andy Moog arrives to remedy net-minding woes

20. (14) Chicago: Quenneville's coaching will eventually make a difference

21. (7) Ottawa: Sens can't really be this bad, can they?

22. (25) Nashville: Shea Weber emerging as team MVP

23. (27) Toronto: Making something out of thin, young roster

24. (24) Florida: Nice job by Peter DeBoer so far

25. (22) Phoenix: Extremely young, and it shows

26. (17) Tampa Bay: Suddenly goaltending is the least of their worries

27. (30)Los Angeles: Dustin Brown evolving into premier power forward

28. (28) Atlanta: Yikes, not much chemistry yet on John Anderson's squad

29. (20) Columbus: Unexpectedly porous defence for a Hitchcock-coached squad

30. (26) New York Islanders: On plus side, maybe they can draft the next Denis Potvin