Last night’s lone game, and thus the Game of the Day, was contested between the Montréal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators, with the Habs winning 3-1 in the Canadian Tire Centre, their first regular season victory in the nation’s capital since April 4, 2014.
Tomas Plekanec was responsible for the game-winning goal, fired at the 18:34 mark of the first period. The unassisted tally was his second of the game and third of the season, earning him first star honors. Mike Condon earned the win after stopping 20 of 21 Senators‘ shots (95.2%), while his counterpart, Matthew O’Connor, stopped 31 of 34 (91.2%).
The home team is now 3-2 in Down the Frozen River’s Game of the Day series.
Today has five games on the schedule, taking place throughout the day in honor of Christopher Columbus, an Italian who undoubtedly was directly involved in forging the Stanley Cup, establishing the Original Six and initiating the new divisions and playoff format implemented in 2014. Obviously.
The things they do and don’t teach in grade school. Terrible.
In honor of Columbus, today’s schedule will be relayed in Italian, because we live in the wonderful world of Google Translate, allowing us to be fluent in almost every known language. Please know I took a few liberties with my translations before you begin harping in the comment section.
The day begins with two games at 1 p.m. eastern, when il Fulmine di Baia di Tampa visit gli Orsi di Boston and gli Aerei di Winnipeg visit le Isole di Nuova York. The fun continues at 3 p.m. eastern when the star of the day’s team, le Giacche Blu di Colombo, visit le Spade di Bufalo. The night games begin at 7 p.m. eastern when le Pantere della Florida visit the le Alette di Filatoio di Philadelphia (NHL Network). Finally, i Canadesi di Vancouver visit i Anatre di Anaheim at 10 p.m. eastern.
Currently, the Bruins are projected to lose with a +125 line, the closest line for the day, which confirms Bolts–B’s as our Game of the Day.
This matchup is one of two among divisional foes (Vancouver/Anaheim is the other) happening today, and also has some statistical significance: All Steven Stamkos needs is an assist in today’s game to earn the 500th point of his 7.02 year career. However, he’ll try to earn his point and, more importantly, two points for his squad in a building his team hasn’t won in since March 25, 2010.
Boston has had little to hang their hat on… or helmet, whichever… so far in this young season. In two games played, the B’s have yet to earn a point in the standings. What’s worse, they’ve played both those games at the TD Garden and have given up an average of exactly five goals per game, while only scoring an average of exactly two goals per game. Compare that to the 2-0-0 Lightning‘s averages of 1.5 goals against per game and 3.5 goals for per game, and you’ll see that this one may be leaning Tampa Bay‘s way.
I’m picking the Bolts to take care of business in this one and enter into a two-way tie with the Habs for the top of the Atlantic Division with six points.
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