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Apparently McAvoy disagrees with the NHLs ruling regarding his hit on OEL, but a hearing has not yet come to pass. The Bruins took to the ice without their star Blue Liner last night against Toronto and tonight’s tilt for Detroit would benefit greatly under the same circumstances. Still, Boston has yet to lose in regulation and have just over half the goals against (1.6) that Detroit has (3.0).
More than one of you (along with myself) have commented on the starts. It took far too long to get the first shot on goal, and teams have quickly identified which lanes to block (anything to Debrincat and Larkin’s slot presence on the power play). The Cat still finds his way to good spots but opposing defense is doing their best to make sure he doesn’t get a “clean” puck.
Interestingly Boston and Florida, both formidable defensive opponents over the past week, are inextricably connected. The missed opportunity of Marchand to end the series and Florida’s comeback and journey to the finals is alive and well on the reels and we’ll likely hear words like “disappointed”, “Shocked” and “Surprising start given departures” in pregame, play by play and potentially in post game wrap up. Right now, the Bruins are the anti-Sharks in terms of season openings.
Detroit’s starts are not a new issue, but it is a new group. It would be refreshing to see some sort of solution levied. During the cup runs we start to see the “pre game rituals” of different teams. A few years ago, seeing the caps yelling in each other’s faces to get themselves psyched was an odd one, I’ll admit. The Wings just need to zero in on whatever has them ready to go. Espresso shots on the way to the rink with a smelling salt chaser at the bench? You never know.
The high water mark of seeing Boston early on like this could be an education on what it’s going to take to climb the ranks in the east. The rebuild faces some strong opponents and in the end that should help set expectations needed to take another step toward a post season appearance.
A quick odd tidbit:
The song has changed about expansion. and the articles of “how stable the league is at this point” have replaced the up to 5 (including Utah and Atlanta again) different options for new teams. Just as Edmonton looked closely at Seattle which I believed helped push the process along, Arizona has been talked about in terms of looking at Utah. A fast growing tech sector for potential partnerships and swaths of land available are among the high points as AZ gets prepared to present their 3rd attempt to get a new Arena. The last 2 billion dollar proposal didn’t fly well, and Detroit’s sell off of “District Detroit” combined with Ottawa and Winnipeg’s financial ills being aired a bit may make another bond funded arena/district an issue for the Coyotes.
It’s still worth keeping an eye on as reports of the USD to Canadian currency exchange rate have driven ticket prices up north of the border (all player salaries paid according to USD, and early in the season there was a 40% divider between the two). Finances are making for odd headlines for the year already and next week could see some interesting announcements. Stay tuned!
Enjoy the game today, and we’ll see if Detroit can find a fast start against a systematically sound Bruins group.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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