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| Monday, October 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
People always talk about how irrelevant the regular season is in the NHL. There may be some validity in their arguments, yet already, some compelling matchups take place just a week into the season.
How will Dallas handle playing without Mike Modano when the Stars travel to Detroit on Tuesday? And look out when the Stars meet Anaheim again on Friday. In addition, Grant Fuhr faces the Blues -- who traded him to Calgary in the offseason -- on Wednesday in Calgary.
Dallas rolls into Detroit as the defending Stanley Cup champion. And Detroit won the two previous Cups. Unfortunately, this won't be a matchup of the best vs. the best because of some ill-fated injuries over the previous weekend. Modano and Darryl Sydor are out indefinitely from questionable plays in the Stars' 2-0 win over Anaheim on Saturday. Modano suffered a concussion, a broken nose and strained ligaments in his neck after defenseman Ruslan Salei pushed him headfirst into the boards. "It was an absolutely ridiculous play and was disgustingly cheap," Brett Hull said of the hit on Modano. "As far as I'm concerned, (Salei) should be out of the league." It will be interesting to see how the Stars respond to the adversity because Modano is one of the best two-way players in the league. As for the Red Wings, they can't feel sorry for Dallas. They have to try to pound them and send a message of their own, although don't look for Detroit to do it like the Ducks did Saturday.
For all the millions spent on free agents, the Rangers began the season with some old familiar habits, namely little scoring and no wins. During an opening weekend when Rangers fans expected Theo Fleury, Valeri Kamensky and the gang to rack up the numbers, the Blueshirts managed just two goals in a tie and a loss. "I think we feel the need to win some games," defenseman Brian Leetch told the New York Daily News. "That third game is a lot bigger than it was two games ago." The Rangers, who are 0-for-12 on the power play thus far, will need to jell, but it better be quick. The Senators, on the other hand, look OK without two of their best players, holdout Alexei Yashin and injured goalie Ron Tugnutt. Patrick Lalime played his first NHL game since 1997 and stopped 17 shots en route to shutting out the Flyers on Saturday. The irony of it all is that rumors continue to circulate that if Yashin is ever traded, the Rangers might be first in line -- especially if they don't win a lot of games early -- for his services. St. Louis at Calgary, 9 p.m. ET Wednesday No ill will seemed to be associated with St. Louis trading goalie Grant Fuhr to Calgary. Regardless, when the Blues travel to face the Flames a lot of St. Louis fans will monitor the starting goalies in the hope that Roman Turek is as good as Blues GM Larry Pleau had hoped. Conventional wisdom would dictate that the future hall of famer would be better used on a contender, but the Blues believe they have a winner in Turek. Dallas at Anaheim, 9:30 p.m. ET Friday Not much to explain here. The Mighty Ducks clearly wanted to send a message to the Dallas Stars, mainly that the days of being a Mickey Mouse opponent were over. The Stars likely will be without Modano and Sydor, but they might be so pumped up that the strategy may backfire. Trying to spark a rivalry is one thing, but intent to injure makes it personal. It seems that a bubbling dislike for Dallas has been brewing for some time in the Anaheim locker room. The Ducks' franchise record against Dallas is 7-20-1. Expect it to get nasty and for the talented Stars to try to beat the Ducks on the stat sheet and the stitch count. | ALSO SEE Hitchcock still fuming over hits on Stars
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