NHL Roundup: Ducks free falling, Ryan O'Reilly has career night

Happy Monday hockey fans. Here’s today’s NHL Roundup with last night’s scores and storylines.

Sunday Oct. 17 featured some very good NHL games. It was headlined by a meltdown by the Edmonton Oilers, more early season struggles for the Anaheim Ducks, another overtime loss for the Carolina Hurricanes, and another overtime win for the Vancouver Canucks.

Ryan O’Reilly of the Buffalo Sabres had a career night with two goals and two assists. His four points set a new career high for the former Colorado Avalanche center. While it has only been a year since O’Reilly got traded to the Sabres, so far it looks like the Sabres have definitely won the trade. Team results excluded, the Sabres got the best player and potentially their next captain once Brian Gionta leaves.

Sunday night featured several teams who have been a surprise, whether it be positive or negative. Everyone (including me) predicted the Canucks to finish towards the bottom of the standings. While it has been just two games, the Canucks have been playing very solid hockey. It’s more than just about the two wins, they also have strong possession stats. Their 53.23 percent even strength Corsi For percentage (score, zone, and venue adjusted) ranks among the best in the NHL. It’s still early, but right now, perhaps fans can admit they might have been a bit too pessimistic about the Canucks.

On the other hand, perhaps too much credit was given to Randy Carlyle and the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks also had a slow start last season, but this season seems different. Even during their early season slump last year, the Ducks had encouraging possession numbers. This season, their 48.83 percent even strength CF% (score, zone, and venue adjusted) ranks among the worst.

Last Night’s Scores

The Sabres beat the Oilers 6-2. Buffalo saw their free agent acquisition Kyle Okposo make his debut in a Sabres sweater. He scored his first goal with the Sabres and also picked up an assist. O’Reilly had four points and Robin Lehner stopped 31 of the 33 shots he faced. On the other hand, Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot had a night to forget.

In a battle between two NHL teams struggling early, the Islanders won 3-2 in overtime. Anaheim is now 0-2-1 on the season while the Islanders advance to 1-2-0. Cam Fowler and Ryan Getzlaf scored in the third period to force overtime. Josh Bailey won it for the Islanders in overtime. John Gibson stopped 27 of the 30 shots he faced while Jaroslav Halak stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced.

The Canucks beat the Hurricanes 4-3 in a shootout. Both teams have yet to play a game ending in regulation. Brandon Sutter got the shootout winner for Vancouver as they advance to 2-0-0. Vancouver overcame a 3-0 deficit in the second period thanks to goals from Sutter, Markus Granlund, and Ben Hutton. Carolina has blown leads in each of their first two games.