Check, Please: NHL Action for the Week of January 28th

It was a close call, but hockey has returned. While the season is shorter, the action is just as fast. Here’s what went on in the NHL week that was.

It was a close call, but hockey has returned. While the season is shorter, the action is just as fast. Here’s what went on in the NHL week that was.

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty)

“Alex Ovechkin is back and better than ever!”


That’s a thing that dumb people are saying. Scoring the go-ahead goal, on a power play, to knock off the 2-2 Sabres, and become the last NHL team to get a win is about as valuable as Yoshi in a castle level (still with me, nerds?). Yet, this miracle goal was the only hockey coverage in hours of sports programming today. In case you hadn’t heard, we still care about hockey. Stop dumbing it down.

Partick Marleau is a Beast


In a season where we didn’t expect many records to fall, Patrick Marleau blazed out of his lockout cave and dropped two goals in each of the Sharks’ first four games, shattering a 95-year-old record. If he can keep even half of this pace, while sharing the first line with Thornton and Pavelski, San Jose should have no problem coasting into the playoff picture. In this shortened season, a hot start will be more valuable than ever before, but the same is true conversely.


Injuries Will Sink Many Teams


Derek Roy joined Old Man Jagr on the bench against St. Louis on Saturday and the Stars paid for it with a 3-4 home loss. They aren’t the only team that’s been thinned out, though. The Flyers (Meszaros, Hartnell), the Preds (Hornqvist), the Panthers (Versteeg, Weiss, Fleischmann), and the Canadiens (chronic bad-luck haver Max Pacioretty) are all struck with short season injuries. Or maybe they are all just suffering from a lack of dirt to rub into their wounds.

Here’s what we learned from the NHL’s opening weekend

Girls in Fur