Hockey today - October 6
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SCOREBOARD Saturday, Oct. 6
Philadelphia at Edmonton (8 p.m. EDT). Daniel Briere scored twice in his Flyers debut on Thursday night.
STARS Friday
-Rick Nash and Pascal Leclaire, Blue Jackets. Nash had two goals and a career-best four points and Leclaire stopped all 28 shots he faced in Columbus' 4-0 win over Anaheim.
-Mike Comrie, Islanders, scored twice and had two assists, leading New York to a 6-4 victory at Buffalo.
-Eric Staal, Hurricanes, scored two first-period goals to ignite Carolina's 4-1 win over Pittsburgh.
-Jeremy Roenick, Sharks, scored twice to lead San Jose to a 3-1 win at Vancouver.
SHUT DOWN
Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby was held to one shot in 19:27 of ice time in Friday night's 4-1 loss at Carolina, He entered with an average of one point per game in eight meetings with the Hurricanes.
FOR STARTERS
The New York Islanders opened their season with a victory for the first time since 2001, and second time in the past 12 seasons, after a 6-4 win at Buffalo on Friday night. ... Dallas won its fifth straight home opener and improved to 8-0-1 over the last nine such games with a 4-1 victory over Boston.
AMERICAN MADE
Dallas captain Mike Modano got career point No. 1,227 in Friday night's 4-1 win over Boston, five shy of matching Phil Housley for the most by an American-born player. ... Jeremy Roenick scored twice in San Jose's 3-1 win at Vancouver and is now three goals away from becoming just the third American-born player to score 500 goals, and five goals shy of matching Joe Mullen (502) for second place behind leader Modano (507).
FEELING BLUE
St. Louis placed defenseman Eric Brewer on the injured list on Friday night with a shoulder injury sustained in the season-opening loss in Phoenix. Blueliner Jay McKee is already out with a fractured right foot suffered during a preseason game.
STRONG IN DEFEAT
Atlanta rookie Bryan Little scored in his NHL debut, a 3-1 loss to Washington on Friday night.
SHAKEUP
Peter Wirtz resigned as vice president of Chicago on Friday and his older brother, Rocky, took over as the team's chairman. The change comes after the death last month of their father and longtime Blackhawks chairman, William Wirtz.
ACTIVATED
Columbus activated defenseman Adam Foote and forward Fredrik Modin off the injured list Friday in time for their season opener against Anaheim.
ON THE MEND
Colorado goaltender Jose Theodore will complete his rehabilitation from offseason knee surgery by starting in the season opener for the AHL Lake Erie Monsters on Saturday. The Avalanche said he would return to Colorado on Sunday
SIGNED
Defenseman Radek Martinek signed a three-year contract extension Friday with the New York Islanders through at least 2011.
SPEAKING
''Those are excuses. That's the way it goes. We didn't have the energy that was necessary to compete at the level they played at.'' - Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle on his team being tired following Friday night's 4-0 loss to Columbus. The Ducks have played four games on two continents and in three arenas in less than a week.
Today's key NHL matchup notes
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Montreal at Toronto
The Canadiens power-play unit scored all of the team's goals with the man advantage in their opener. Toronto has failed to score on 14 power-play chances this season.
N.Y. Rangers at Ottawa
Ottawa's big three of Dany Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza has combined for six goals and five assists in the first two games. The Senators have won 14 of their last 18 games against the Blueshirts, going 7-1-0 at home.
Buffalo at N.Y. Islanders
The Islanders won the first game of this home-and-home series on Friday and the newcomer line of Mike Comrie, Ruslan Fedotenko and Bill Guerin combined for 10 points. Buffalo has not lost two in a row to the Islanders since February 2004.
Carolina at Washington
Carolina goaltender Cam Ward has stopped 70 of 74 shots through two games and could get a breather tonight. Veteran backup John Grahame is expected to get the nod.
New Jersey at Florida
Devils netminder Martin Brodeur is 30-10-0 with seven ties and a 1.96 goals-against average in 47 games against Florida.
Anaheim at Pittsburgh
Ducks goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov is 0-2-1 with nine goals allowed in three starts this season.
Atlanta at Tampa Bay
Vincent Lecavalier was the NHL's leading goal scorer last season and had five goals and 11 points against Atlanta last season. Tampa Bay was 5-2-1 overall and 3-1-0 at home against the Thrashers in 2006-07.
Dallas at Nashville
Nashville's new top goaltender Chris Mason, made 35 saves for his ninth career shutout in the team's season opener. Dallas veteran Mike Modano had three goals and an assist in three games versus Nashville last year.
Columbus at Minnesota
The Blue Jackets were 15-23-3 on the road last season. They are 3-7-2 all-time in Minnesota. The teams split four games last season with each club winning two on home ice.
Philadelphia at Edmonton
Philadelphia, which started 1-6-1 last season, hasn't opened with back-to-back wins since 1998-99. This will be the Flyers' first game at Edmonton since Oct. 2002. The Oilers have three wins and a tie in the past four meetings.
Detroit at Chicago
Detroit won seven of eight meetings against the Blackhawks last season, with the only loss coming in a shootout at the United Center. The Wings outscored the Blackhawks 32-13 in those seven wins.
Boston at Phoenix
Phoenix looks to start a season with back-to-back wins for the first time since 2003. The Bruins and the Coyotes didn't face each other last season and haven't met since Dec. 2005.
Vancouver at Calgary
Vancouver outscored Calgary 25-24 as the teams split last season's eight-game series, with each winning two at home and on the road. Flames captain Jarome Iginla had two goals and six assists in the Flames' four wins over Vancouver last season.
St. Louis at Los Angeles
Ex-Kings head coach Andy Murray went 3-0 against his former team last season. Blues goalie Manny Legace is 9-1-0 with one tie and a 2.57 goals-against average in 12 career games against Los Angeles.
Foote, Modin activated for Jackets opener
October 5, 2007
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -The Columbus Blue Jackets activated defenseman Adam Foote and forward Fredrik Modin off the injured list Friday in time for their season opener against the Anaheim Ducks.
Foote, also the team captain, had been sidelined with a hamstring injury. Modin had fought back pain. Neither played in the team's eight preseason games.
The only player remaining on the injured list is center Michael Peca, out with a pulled groin muscle.
Predators defenseman Weber out 3-6 weeks
October 6, 2007
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -Nashville Predators defenseman Shea Weber will be out three to six weeks after dislocating his knee cap in Thursday's 4-0 victory over Colorado.
The 22-year-old played only 2:19 of the opening period when he fell on the ice and caught his skate awkwardly. Weber has 108 points (19 goals, 31 assists) over the last two seasons in Nashville.
``Last night we were very fearful he had seriously hurt himself, so three to six weeks is good news from our end,'' head coach Barry Trotz said in a statement Friday.
Ville Koistinen, 25, will make his NHL debut Saturday in Weber's spot against the Dallas Stars.
Hurricanes sign D Tanabe to 2-year deal
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. -- David Tanabe signed a two-year contract to return to the Carolina Hurricanes, who assigned forward Ryan Bayda to their AHL affiliate in Albany.
Tanabe, a defenseman who has played parts of five seasons with the Hurricanes since turning pro in 1999-2000, will make $600,000 at the NHL level and $100,000 at the minor-league level this season and $900,000 at the NHL level next season.
Tanabe will be available for Saturday night's game at Washington, pending league approval and a physical.
''David completes our team's defensive corps,'' general manager Jim Rutherford said. ''He gives the Hurricanes depth at a position where we need depth.''
Tanabe had five goals and 12 assists in 60 games last season with Carolina, which drafted him in the first round in 1999. He participated in the St. Louis Blues' camp this preseason but was released Oct. 1.
Bayda, who played in Carolina's season opener against Montreal, had two assists in six preseason games. He has eight goals and 14 assists in 79 games and parts of four seasons with the Hurricanes.