WEEKLY PREVIEW #1 (October 5 to 11)

Firstly, a quick welcome to my weekly preview! I will be sifting through all the action and giving you the lowdown on what's been happening around the NHL. Enjoy!

What you've missed:

The Senators opened the 2009-2010 season against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday and went down 5 goals to 2. Now, I must admit, I have seen all of about 10 seconds of footage from this game so far - NHL.com hasn't seen fit to post any highlights of the game. My apologies for the lack of insight here.

Goals for the Sens were scored by Daniel Alfredsson and Peter Regin. Rookie Erik Karlsson picked up his first NHL assist.

In other games around the league:

- St Louis picked up both games in their series against Detroit in Sweden. Chris Mason looked solid in net in his start.

- Colorado went on a streak of their own on opening weekend, knocking off both San Jose and Vancouver to go 2 and 0. 3rd overall pick Matt Duchene picked up his first NHL point (an assist).

- Pittsburgh were eventual winners in the shootout and improved their record to 2 and 0, but the NY Islanders played well to get to OT and pick up their first point as a team. John Tavares scored his first NHL goal in the game.

What's coming up:

The Senators have 3 games this week.

First, they travel down the 401 for the rivalry matchup with Toronto (Tuesday 06/10, TSN). Then it's back to Scotiabank Place for the home opener against the Islanders (Thursday 08/10, Sportsnet). And to round out the week, another home game follows against Atlanta (Saturday 10/10).

Ryan Shannon was pulled from practice on Sunday with "bumps and bruises" and is day-to-day at this time. Jesse Winchester is still out from a pre-season knee injury and shouldn't be back for another 2-3 weeks.

A win against Toronto tomorrow night would do a lot for Ottawa's confidence and set the tone for the week. It's time to test Alexei Kovalev; will Sens fans see the amazingly gifted scorer, or the frustrating coaster? Can Jonathan Cheechoo make an impression in what has been a whisper-quiet pre-season for him? And will Pascal Leclaire's middling performance thus far improve or decline?

In other games:

- Montreal start a Western road-trip this week with stops in Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton. Can Carey Price continue his hot form or will the Habs collapse under the weight of injuries to Andrei Markov and Ryan O'Byrne?

- Carolina find themselves at 0 and 2 to start the season, and will look to turn it around against Tampa Bay Tuesday night. An injury to Erik Cole (out 4-6 weeks) will further hamper the Canes efforts.

- Unlucky to lose to the Flames on Saturday night on the back of a horrible goalie error, Edmonton will look for revenge against Calgary at Rexall Place Thursday.

Who's hot?

Craig Anderson (Colorado) picked up both wins on the weekend, allowing just 2 goals on 75 shots. Wojtek Wolski, also from the Avs, has 3 goals and is +3 in those two games.

The Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin line (Washington) has scored 17 combined points in just 2 games.

Keith Tkachuk (St Louis) has 2 PP goals in as many starts, and 4 total points.

Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta) is shooting at 100% so far - 2 goals from 2 shots in the season opener.

Who's not?

Roberto Luongo (Vancouver) lost both starts this weekend and sits at just 0.857 save percentage

Francois Beauchemin (Toronto) was also ice cold, with no points and a league-worst -4. Vesa Toskala is just under 5 GAA and has a save percentage of 0.800

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good job MTA and congrats on your inaugural preview.

Thanks 13, I really appreciate it.

Great work Matt. I really expect us to get all three wins this week. Toronto and Atlanta should be the toughest. I like the hot and cold section too. I definitely shook my head when Florida let Anderson go, and all I wonder now is how much Budaj will get Colorado on the market.

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So Did Ty Conklin !

That's scary good. Washington just rules...

This is an awesome preview Matt! Very well done

I can already tell these WPs are going to be a key feature of our site

Great work Matt

Yeah, they never should have let him go...I'll be surprised if Budaj will garner much interest (or playing time) if Anderson keeps playing the way he did.

Yes he did - he had some dubious goals go past him first up but Conklin was solid the rest of the way.

They are looking very scary right now up front...but they need some work on the back end - there was no way the Leafs shoud have scored 3 unanswered like they did Saturday night.

No probs Mr Skippy - glad that people are reading it and enjoying this as much as I enjoy writing it.

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Oh and whoever added #1 to my title, a BIG thanks I totally forgot to label it in the title...

Good job Matt. Better then Sens Chirp...

Great work Matt.

good job Matt, keep up the good work

MTA, this segment is really great! Perhaps you should consider being a sports writer :P

I'm sure the Mrs. would love that. haha

Can't wait to see what this year has in store!

lol

I'm not so sure she would. lol

But who knows, maybe I'll find out. I really enjoy writing these weekly previews and hopefully you guys will all enjoy reading them right through the season.

Yeah good job, i did actually enjoy reading that..

Maybe the missus should set you straight and get you in a Leafs jersey.

Hint, hint, nudge, nudge...*cough* *cough* lol

Oh and good job MTA

Very well written MTA. Good Job.

Thanks again to everyone who read this and took the time to comment on it. I really do appreciate it.