Last night’s Game of the Day was certainly a shocker. First-year Shark, goalkeeper Martin Jones, earned himself and his team a five-goal shutout victory over the Alex Ovechkin-less Capitals last night in the Verizon Center.
Joe Thornton scored the first goal of the game after almost 11 minutes, the only goal of the first period. San Jose scored two insurance goals apiece in both the second and third periods, all by different skaters. In all, nine separate players found their way to the scorecard, with both Matt Nieto and Chris Tierney adding a goal an and assist to their résumé for the year.
Jones stopped all 31 shots faced to improve his record to a perfect 3-0-0 and has only given up one goal so far this season, while Braden Holtby stopped 27 of 30 (90%), as Nieto and Tierney’s goals were scored on an empty net.
The road team now leads the DtFR Game of the Day series 4-3, and are on a three-game win streak.
Tonight’s schedule includes only four games, all of them played under the Stars and Stripes. Ottawa and Columbus kick things off at 7 p.m. eastern, followed an hour later by Chicago at Philadelphia (NBCSN). At 10 p.m. eastern, Boston plays their lone regular-season game in Denver against Colorado, while Arizona and Anaheim wait half an hour before dropping the puck on the Pond.
Today marks the first matchup decided by committee, so that is exciting. What’s most exciting for me is that I’m not solely responsible if you think I chose the wrong game! Now we all have to share the blame! Hooray!
We decided to go with the Hawks–Flyers game.
Look at those logos. They don’t even want to face each other. Definitely screams Wednesday Night Rivalry.
Not only is this the only nationally televised game of the night, it also has an additional “Original 12” narrative (Yes, I’m fully aware that’s not really a thing. Just roll with it.). So far in this week-old season, both teams have been competitive, with Chicago owning a 2-1 record (lost to the Rangers on opening night, swept a home-and-home with the Islanders) and a 1-1-1 record for Philly (lost to Tampa in OT, split a home-and-home with Florida).
According to Vegas, this should be the most competitive game of the night, as the Flyers have a +121 line (The next closest is Sens–Jackets at -134).
With that information and overall predictions for the teams for the season, I’m picking the road team to pick up their fourth straight victory in our Game of the Day series.
Some players to watch in this one include Chicago‘s Patrick Kane (regardless of how you feel about him, he is still having a successful season with six points [tied for second in the league] on three goals [tied for second in the league]) and Philly‘s Michal Neuvirth (one shutout this season [tied for second in the league]).
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