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Two NHL games last night 14 on tap tonight

The Arizona Coyotes won big on the road against a very good New Jersey team in a shoot-out and the Penguins dominated the Capitals with a shut-out in last night’s games.

Honorable Referees

In two games both home teams lost and four referees whistled 24 penalties resulting in 18 power plays with one game favoring the visitors but in that same shoot-out game, the home team enjoyed a 5-on-3 man-advantage which they scored with.

ESPN FHL

Another disappointing goaltending performance but gratefully still ahead by a baker’s dozen worth of points over this week’s opponent and with 28 out of 32 teams playing tonight each team manager could have serious roster decisions to make if most of their players can be inserted into the line-up.

Saturday Hockey

The Sabres play their first road game tonight in Long Island before playing these same Islanders next Saturday in Buffalo and an interesting early-season match-up is tonight’s rematch between the Oilers and the high-flying Canucks.

Buffalo, Columbus, and San Jose drop Home Openers

Here along the Lake last night JJ Peterka scored Buffalo’s first goal of the 2023-24 NHL Season, but too many penalties, not enough shots, and not enough goals coupled with average goaltending produced a loss but the Sabres have 81 more games to redeem themselves.

Minnesota and Nashville earned shutouts, Dallas won in a shootout, Philadelphia and Las Vegas won on the road and New Jersey held off Detroit at home.

Counting on the Refs

In seven games the home teams won four times and in six of those games, the home teams had more power plays as the referees whistled 58 penalties for 46 power plays overall.

NHL ESPN FHL

Despite the negative point production from the goaltender BW still has an eight-point lead for the first weekly match-up, and will play newly acquired goaltender Mr. Schmid in net tonight. BW dropped two Detroit players to acquire New Jersey’s goalie and a productive point producer from Columbus.

NHL Games Today

Arizona visits New Jersey as Pittsburgh invades the capital of the United States of America to subdue Washington.

Players and Referees

Everyone makes mistakes, at school, at work, or hanging out with family and friends and giving people the benefit of the doubt is paramount when employing human judgement.

Last night the Referees whistled on average 11.5 penalties resulting in 8 PP per game in a night where the home teams won 5 out of 6 games and had the most PP overall.

FHL Day Two

A solid 10-point lead with one injury prompting an immediate drop and not to IR, the reasoning being the player is past his 30^th birthday and his team is saying week to week where in reality it could be more than a month dropping his value considerably.

When team managers have to drop a player to make room for an older contributor coming off IR it could possibly disrupt their roster especially if the more recent player’s point production is higher.

NHL Heart stoppers and barn burners

Last night Toronto had a brilliant come-from-behind, two empty-net goal game versus Montreal to eventually win in a shootout 6-5 in their home opener, meanwhile Vancouver annihilated Edmonton in an 8-1 effort.

The Buffalo Sabres 2023-24 NHL Season is here!

Tonight the Sabres play host to the Rangers in what is the first game of the season that brings the playoffs back to Buffalo.

Chicago Surprise Winner and each team points in FHL

The Blackhawks Mr. Mrazek earned a .950 save percentage by stopping 38 out of 40 Pittsburgh shots after allowing the game’s first two goals, veteran Mr. Perry and rookie Mr. Bedard provided assists and Chicago skated to a 4-2 empty-net road victory.

Lord Stanley’s defenders also won with an empty-net victory and Tampa Bay defeated Nashville in yesterday’s first contest highlighted by the season’s first penalty shot.

In Buffalo Winter’s ESPN FHL all the teams earned at least a fraction of a point which would be more concerning for some managers if there were a full slate of games last night to point from, team Psychos has an impressive jump in the early standings.

Referees #5 Rooney and #26 Brenk Lighting vs Predators, issued nine penalties.

Five of them and one penalty shot against the visitors, and with the game tied at one after the second period Nashville took an early 2-1 third-period lead before being whistled four times for infractions resulting in two goals against, losing the lead and eventually the game.

Three early games and three late games, be sure to insert eligible players into your FHL team roster before seven this evening.

The NHL will not allow post-game interviews with referees.

Referees at all levels have it tough, during a game no one cheers for the officials but a few have as officials play to the crowd in recent seasons with a couple of referees embellishing their calls at center ice.

Today’s birthday October 10^th is HHOF referee “Bill” Chadwick who began as a linesman for one season [1940] before becoming a referee for the next decade and a half, what makes this official special is that he is the first to signal what penalties were being called with his hands.

For holding penalties, Mr. Chadwick grabbed his wrist and for tripping he would slap his shin initially fans thought he was showboating but actually, he was unknowingly developing a new way to communicate penalties to players and fans alike.

Statistical analysis at the end of the season could highlight protocol, trends, distinctive styles, or company line officiating, do they call fewer penalties in the third period of a one-goal game versus more in the first period of a scoreless tie or does it even matter?

Beginning with today’s officiating Buffalo Winter will track and monitor certain statistics of the 35 referees (not the nine minor officials under NHL contract) then chart, display, and analyze the information throughout the regular season with a season-ending assessment.