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After opening the season ranked 12th in the country, the University of Michigan (4-0-0) moved up five more spots to No. 4 on Monday in the latest U.S. College Hockey Online poll.
The unbeaten Wolverines, who’ve outscored opponents 26-3 in the first four games, lead the nation in scoring after sweeping No. 7 Providence on the weekend.
Nine players have at least four points, led by sophomore forward Michael Hage with four goals and five assists. The 2024 first-round pick of the Canadiens is third in the country in scoring.
Freshman goalie Jack Ivankovic has provided a boost in net, stopping 43-of-45 shots over the two games heading into a weekend series with Robert Morris University at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor.
Michiagn received eight of 50 first-place votes and are one of six Big Ten teams in the top 20: Michigan State (No. 3), Penn State (No. 6), Minnesota (No. 13), Ohio State (No. 16) and Wisconsin (No. 17).
Boston University is No. 1, followed by defending national champion Western Michigan.
Monday’s NHL games
Colorado 3, (at) Buffalo 1: Nathan MacKinnon scored twice, and celebrated his second goal with a stick twirl and fist pump, in the Colorado’s victory over winless Buffalo.
Cale Makar had a goal and assist, Martin Necas set up both of MacKinnon’s goals and the Avalanche improved to 3-0-1. Scott Wedgewood made 28 saves in his fourth start..
Tage Thompson scored for the Sabres, who have combined for just two goals this season. Buffalo is off to its second straight 0-3 start under coach Lindy Ruff. Alex Lyon finished with 34 saves.
“I’m a big believer that negativity breeds negativity, and that’s kind of how we’ve snowballed things in the past,” Thompson told nhl.com. “So, we can’t let three games be the end of the world, like I said. Obviously this [stinks]. No one wants to lose their first three games, but we’ve got an opportunity Wednesday (against the Ottawa Senators) to turn it around, and I think that’s all we’ve got to start doing: just look at the next game.
“Can’t keep looking back … last three games, last four seasons, last 14 seasons, whatever you want to do. We’ve just got to keep our sights set on what’s next.”
Tampa Bay 4, (at) Boston 3: Pontus Holmberg put Tampa Bay up by three goals late in the second period and the Lightning held on to beat Boston.
Holmberg scored with a wrist shot 3:37 into the second to give the Lightning a 4-1 lead. Max Crozier and Oliver Bjorkstrand each got an assist. Anthony Cirelli scored twice and Yanni Gourde added another for the Lightning.
Jordan Harris, Morgan Geekie and Casey Mittelstadt scored for the Bruins.
Winnipeg 5, (at) N.Y. Islanders 2: Jonathan Toews recorded his first point in nearly 2 1/2 years on an assist, and Winnipeg had five different players score goals in a win over New York.
Logan Stanley, Mark Scheifele, Nino Niederreiter, Morgan Barron and Tanner Pearson scored for the Jets.
Emil Heineman and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each scored for the Islanders.
Nashville 4, (at) Ottawa 1: Juuse Saros made 31 saves and Ryan O’Reilly’s third-period goal held up as the winner for the Predators.
Ridly Greig scored a power-play goal with 2:03 remaining to cut the lead in half, but Jonathan Marchessault and Cole Smith each added empty-net goals in the final minute to secure the win.
Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was evaluated for a potential wrist injury after being cross-checked into the boards in the first period by Predators defenseman Roman Josi.
(At) Philadelphia 5, Florida 2: Sean Couturier’s second goal of the game with 4:10 remaining snapped a tie and sent Philadelphia to a win over Florida in Rick Tocchet’s home coaching debut.
Bobby Brink and Christian Dvorak added late empty-netters for the Flyers.
Sam Reinhart and Sam Bennett rallied the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers with goals but they lost for the first time in four games. Florida will be in Detroit on Wednesday.
New Jersey 3, (at) Columbus 2: Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer each scored in the final seconds of power plays to lift New Jersey over Columbus, securing their second straight road win.
Jake Allen stopped 23 shots over two periods in his season debut. He was replaced by Jacob Markstrom, who stopped eight shots, to start the third period. Allen had cramping and didn’t return.
Kirill Marchenko tallied his fourth goal in three games for Columbus, and Dmitri Voronkov also scored. Jet Greaves made 25 saves.
St. Louis 5, (at) Vancouver 2: Jimmy Snuggerud scored twice, Brayden Schenn had a goal and an assist, and Nick Bjugstad and Jake Neighbours also scored for the Blues.
Jordan Binnington stopped 29 shots as St. Louis won its second game in a row.
Kiefer Sherwood scored two goals for Vancouver and Kevin Lankinen had 30 saves.
(At) Chicago 3, Utah 1: Andre Burakovsky snapped a third-period tie, and Chicago beat Utah for coach Jeff Blashill’s first win with his new team.
Chicago dropped its first three games despite being tied at 2-2 after the second period in each contest. Blashill, 51, was hired by Chicago in May. He went 204-261-72 in seven seasons with Detroit.
JJ Peterka scored for Utah, which dropped two of three on its season-opening road trip.
(At) Minnesota 4, L.A. Kings 3 (SO): Marco Rossi scored in the fourth round of the shootout and Minnesota beat Los Angeles after giving up a three-goal lead in the third period.
Power-play goals by Jared Spurgeon, Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy gave Minnesota a 3-0 lead late in the first period. The score remained until the third period when Kevin Fiala, Quinton Byfield scored early and Adrain Kempe late to send the game to overtime.
Darcy Kuemper stopped 23 shots for Los Angeles, which has been short-handed 22 times in four games.
Stars head home for opener
Dallas – Stars coach Glen Gulutzan has repeatedly said that he wants them to compete more in every aspect. That message was prominent even after Dallas won its first two games on the road against division opponents it also beat in the playoffs last season.
The Stars finished practice Monday, the day before their home opener, with players going through a 1-on-1 drill battling for pucks. Pairs of players were spread out over the ice at the same time, with even the two goaltenders going head-to-head, as one teammate tried to keep the other from the puck.
“It’s a little race off the wall and compete at the end of the day,” Gulutzan said of the drill with three reps of 15-20 seconds each. “Some of the messaging today was when all talent becomes equal on both sides, it comes down to hand-to-hand combat.”
Dallas’ home opener Tuesday night against Minnesota will be Gulutzan’s first behind the Stars bench since the 2013 season finale. That was a couple of weeks before he was fired by then-new general manager Jim Nill, the same GM that brought him back as head coach in July after the Stars finished all three of their seasons under Pete DeBoer with losses in the Western Conference Final.
“He’s brought a lot of really good energy and a really good message to our group,” veteran forward Matt Duchene said of Gulutzan. “We’re just going to keep getting better. We’re at square one right now. … We can win a lot of games, but we want to improve in some areas. And he’s going to help us for sure.”
Same score, different games
While the Stars won 5-4 at both Winnipeg and Colorado, those were much different games.
Dallas had a 5-1 lead against the Jets before they scored two empty-net goals after defensive lapses on the same power play in the third period. Two nights later in Colorado, the Stars were outshot 39-22 and bailed out by goalie Jake Oettinger’s 35 saves before former Mikko Rantanen had the deciding tally in a shootout against his former team.
“It definitely feels probably feels more like we’re 1-1 than 2-0, but we’re 2-0,” Duchene said. “So we’ve got to make sure that we take that mulligan and run with it, and not give it back at some point.”
Gulutzan said the Stars were a “very good” team for 50 minutes at Winnipeg, but didn’t have their legs at Colorado in a win he credited to Oettinger.
“We’re going to have a game this year where we’re going to out-shoot, out-chance an opponent and not come out with anything. That’s just the way the league is,” Gulutzan said. “The hockey gods even these things out. So we’re going to have a game like that, and all we have to do is rewind to Colorado and OK, now we’re even.”
Seven Stars scoring
Seven players have already scored goals for the Stars. Wyatt Johnston and Jason Robertson both have two.
“What I am learning is that we don’t need much to score. We have a bunch of guys that don’t need much to score,” Gulutzan said. “But what we need to do is keep pushing the territory battle into our favor. Because if you just counter-punch like we did the other night. … If we gain more territory with the players we have and win the territorial battle, it’ll even increase how good we can be.”
Johnston said all has been good so far in the adjustment to Gulutzan as coach.
“I’ve liked what we’ve done,” Johnston said. “I like how he’s kind of prepared us for the start of the year.”
October schedules
Monday
▶ Red Wings 3, Maple Leafs 2
Wednesday, Oct. 15
▶ Panthers at Red Wings, 7
Thursday, Oct. 16
▶ Robert Morris at Michigan, 7
▶ Green Bay at NTDP U17, 7
Friday, Oct. 17
▶ Lightning at Red Wings, 7
▶ Manitoba at Grand Rapids, 7
▶ Michigan State at Boston University, 6:30
▶ Robert Morris at Michigan, 7
▶ Western Michigan at Massuchusetts Lowell, 7:15
▶ Michigan Tech at Alaska, 11 p.m.
▶ Colorado College at Northern Michigan, 7
▶ Lake Superior State at NTDP U18, 7
▶ NTDP U17 at Youngston, 7
Saturday, Oct. 18
▶ Manitoba at Grand Rapids, 7
▶ Michigan State at Boston University, 7
▶ Western Michigan at Massachusetts Lowell, 6
▶ Michigan Tech at Alaska, 11 p.m.
▶ Colorado College at Northern Michigan, 6
▶ Ferris State at NTDP U18, 7
Sunday, Oct. 19
▶ Oilers at Red Wings, 3
Wednesday, Oct. 22
▶ Red Wings at Sabres, 7:30
Thursday, Oct. 23
▶ Red Wings at Islanders, 7
▶ Western Michigan at Michigan, 7
Friday, Oct. 24
▶ Manitoba at Grand Rapids, 7
▶ Michigan State at Northern Michigan, 7
▶ Western Michigan at Michigan, 7
▶ Michigan Tech at Ferris State, 6
▶ NTDP U18 at Niagara University, 6
▶ NTDP U17 at Des Moines, 8
Saturday, Oct. 25
▶ Blues at Red Wings, 7
▶ Michigan State at Northern Michigan, 6
▶ Michigan Tech at Ferris State, 6
▶ NTDP U18 at Cornell, 7
▶ NTDP U17 at Des Moines, 8
Tuesday, Oct. 28
▶ Red Wings at Blues, 8:15
▶ Grand Rapids at Iowa, 8
Thursday, Oct. 30
▶ Red Wings at L.A. Kings, 10:30
▶ Muskegon at NTDP U18, 7
Friday, Oct. 31
▶ Red Wings at Ducks, 10
▶ Michigan at Notre Dame, TBD
▶ Michigan Tech at Clarkson, 7
▶ Northern Michigan at Augustana, 8
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