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Atlanta at.na has five goals through three games.na has posted 14 goals and 22 points in 25 career games against New Jersey.na, who has scored more goals and more power-play goals (105) than any other player since he joined the NHL in 2001-02, registered the 300th and 301st goals of his career in a 4-2 victory over St. Louis on Oct. 8. The Devils' top line of Zach Parise-Travis Zajac-Jamie Langenbrunner has averaged a ton of ice time in the early going of 2009-10 -- something coach Jacques Lemaire will certainly keep an eye on. Langenbrunner has averaged 22:20 per game, Zajac 22:01 and Parise 19:59.

Puck Drop -- The Thrashers possess two of the most promising young players in the League in rookie forward Evander Kane and sophomore defenseman Zach Bogosian. Both players will be making their debut at Prudential Center against the Devils. Bogosian missed 28 games with a broken leg last season.

NY Islanders at. Buffalo

ISLANDERS (0-1-3) at SABRES (3-0-1)

Season series -- It's the first meeting of the season between the two teams. The clubs split four games last season, with each winning once at home and on the road. The two losses to the 30th-place Islanders were a big reason the Sabres came up short of a playoff berth. The teams have split their last 10 meetings.

Big Story -- The Sabres are flying high in the early going. They are the only team in the East that hasn't lost a game in regulation and come into this one riding a three-game winning streak in which they've allowed only three goals -- two of which came in Tuesday night's 6-2 blowout win over the Detroit Red Wings.
In contrast, the Islanders are still looking for their first win. They got a point in each of their first three games (one loss in OT and two in shootouts) before losing 2-1 in regulation to Los Angeles on Monday.

Team Scope:

Islanders -- He didn't get a point against Los Angeles on Monday, but four games into his NHL career, John Tavares has shown he's more than capable of competing in the NHL as a 19-year-old. Tavares has 2 goals and 5 points in four games, and the line of Tavares, up-and-coming Kyle Okposo and journeyman Matt Moulson is easily the Isles' best. They're a threat to score any time they're on the ice.
"He has great composure, great awareness,” Kings coach Terry Murray said of the No. 1 pick in last June's Entry Draft after Monday's game. “He’s able to find the right places to be in order to be an offensive producer."

Sabres -- The defense and goaltending have been solid all season in Buffalo, so coach Lindy Ruff was glad to see the offense get untracked in the victory over the Wings. A four-goal second period equaled the team's entire production in the first three games and made life a lot easier for goaltender Ryan Miller.
"We finally exploded," he said. "We weren't getting the goals the first few games, but that's what we're capable of with this system."

Who's Hot -- Miller has been nearly unbeatable this season. He's allowed just five goals in Buffalo's four games and was sharp in the 6-2 win over Detroit on Tuesday. Okposo, who's raised his game several notches in his second NHL season, has at least one point in all five of the Islanders' games.

Injury Report -- The Sabres took a big hit on Tuesday when Thomas Vanek left in the second period; he wiped out into the end boards after scoring his second goal of the night and didn't return. The Sabres say he has an upper-body injury but might be closer to returning than the "weeks" coach Lindy Ruff said he'd miss. Vanek practiced Thursday but is doubtful for this one. The Islanders are still without forward Trent Hunter (chest muscle), center Frans Nielsen (knee surgery) and goaltender Rick DiPietro, who hasn't played yet as he recovers from knee surgery.

Stat Pack -- One way to be successful -- shoot the puck and don't let the opposition fire away at your goaltender. It's worked for the Sabres, who are averaging a League-high 38.2 shots per game per game while allowing just 22.8, second to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Puck Drop -- The Islanders lost two games via shootout after leading in the third period, including a 4-3 loss at Boston in which they led 3-0 with just over eight minutes remaining. As was the case last season, they have yet to show that they can close out games, and the longer they go without winning, the more trouble they're going to have breaking out of their rut.

Philadelphia at. Florida

FLYERS (3-1-1) at PANTHERS (1-4-0)

Season series -- First of four meetings this season. The Panthers went 2-1-1 against the Flyers last season. The teams played twice in Florida in the span off 11 days in January, with the Panthers going 1-0-1; then they met twice in Philadelphia in the span of 13 days late in the season, with each team claiming a regulation victory.

Big Story -- For a team that missed the playoffs through the tiebreaker procedure last season and stressed getting off to a better start, Florida has hardly delivered. Since opening the season in Finland with a shootout win over Chicago, the Panthers have dropped four in a row, all in regulation. They haven't buried themselves yet, but if the losing continues they will once again have a lot of chasing to do if they want to end their postseason drought.

Team Scope:

Flyers -- How is Philadelphia off to a 3-1-1 start and yet a distant third in the Atlantic Division? Well, for one, the Penguins and Rangers have each played seven games to the Flyers' five. And secondly, those teams have each won six of their first seven. The Flyers' main concern in this game will be putting a stop to a two-game losing streak, both defeats coming by a single goal. They've had five days off since dropping a shootout to Anaheim.

"It was a good week to get to know each other, but it's starting to feel a little long," Danny Briere said. "I can't wait to get back to playing. The first period will be critical. Whoever can come out and set the tempo will have a huge advantage."

Panthers -- Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, or so the saying goes. It certainly doesn't get you two points in a hockey game, which is what Florida desperately needs right now. The Panthers' last two defeats came by 3-2 scores to the Devils and Lightning, and were games they could have won but did not. GM Randy Sexton feels the team is still getting going after starting the season in Europe.
"There are still no excuses. But I think in Tampa we had our energy back," Sexton said. "I think we skated better. We had our energy back. We skated better and I think we did a lot of things better. We didn’t come out on top but you have to take one step forward to get out of the hole."

Who's Hot -- Philadelphia defenseman Chris Pronger has come as advertised: after scoring a goal Saturday against his old team, he has five points, a plus-three rating and a team-high 18 penalty minutes. Florida forward Radek Dvorak scored a shorthanded goal, had three shots and played over 20 minutes against Tampa.

Injury Report -- Checking forward Blair Betts remains out for the Flyers with a dislocated shoulder, though he could return in about a week. The Panthers are awaiting the return of defenseman Nick Tarnasky, who is skating but hasn't played yet as he recovers from a broken orbital bone.

Stat Pack -- Flyers goalie Ray Emery is 6-2-0 career against the Panthers with a 3.26 goals-against average. Tomas Vokoun has started every game for Florida this season, but should the team choose to opt for backup Scott Clemmensen, he went 2-0-0 with a 1.89 GAA against the Flyers last season while playing for the Devils.

Puck Drop -- Forward Dominic Moore was finally able to get through immigration and join the Panthers after signing a free-agent contract. The team hopes he will be able to help provide not only points but ability in the faceoff circle.
"He brings some energy, he brings some speed, he brings faceoffs," Florida coach Peter DeBoer said. "I think in Tampa our faceoff percentage was (34) percent (18 of 53). He brings something to the table we sorely need."

Boston at.na Rask (1-1-0, 3.39 GAA, .883 SVP) started the last two games, a win against the Islanders and a loss to the Avalanche.

Stars: "We really wanted to establish our presence here at home," Stars coach Marc Crawford told the Dallas Morning News following Wednesday's lopsided win against the Predators.
The line of James Neal (0-3-3), Brad Richards (1-2-3) and Loui Eriksson (2-1-3) totaled 9 points. The other top line of Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro and Jamie Benn then provided two goals. Morrow had two goals, and Benn and Ribeiro had two assists apiece.
"I thought Loui Eriksson was extremely good, as was James Neal," Crawford said. "Brad Richards has a good way with both of them. He is no nonsense when he's on the bench, and I think that helps [Eriksson and Neal] to focus in on what it is they have to do on the ice."
Veteran winger Jere Lehtinen will be playing for the third time and has 1 assist after missing the first three games with a hip/groin injury. He has played only 48 games each of the last two seasons and the Stars need Lehtinen's offense and leadership, especially while all-franchise center Mike Modano is out with a rib injury.

Who's hot: For Boston, center Marc Savard has 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists) in his last four games, and winger Michael Ryder had 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists) in his last four games. For Dallas, center Brad Richards has points in all five games for the Stars, and has scored at least a goal and an assist in each of the last three games. Center Mike Ribeiro has points in four consecutive games and at least 2 points in each of the last three games. Left wing Brenden Morrow has three multi-point games -- a 2-1-3 performance against Edmonton, a 0-2-2 showing against Vancouver, and a 2-0-2 outing against Nashville.

Injury report: For Boston, defenseman Dennis Wideman is day-to-day with a shoulder injury. For Dallas, Mike Modano is day-to-day with a rib injury, and center Steve Ott is day-to-day with a pulled oblique muscle.

Stat pack: Other than a 7-2 win against Carolina on Oct. 3, the Bruins held the lead for only 5:40 in their other four home games to start the season, according to the Boston Globe. They trailed for 181 minutes, 24 seconds, and gave up 19 goals for an average of 3.80 per game. They allowed 2.37 goals per game at home last season.

Puck drop: "Maybe we've tried to put on too much of a show, trying to impress our fans. Yeah, sure, we have a good team, but it takes a lot more than just throwing our sticks out there to think we're going to win." -- Mark Recchi to the Boston Globe

Vancouver at. Calgary

CANUCKS (2-3-0) at FLAMES (4-2-1)

Season Series: It's the first meeting this season between these two Northwest Division rivals. But much is already on the line. The Canucks trail Calgary by five points in the standings already and, despite having two games in hand, don't want to see that deficit balloon any further.

Big Story: The Canucks are just trying to survive an ugly spate of injuries to start their season. In the span of a couple of days, Vancouver lost top-line forward Daniel Sedin for at least a month and then saw top-four defenseman Sami Salo go down with a long-term injury of his own. Calgary has taken points in five of seven games, but is still looking to address some issues in its own zone.

Team Scope:

Canucks: Vancouver's sick bay is pretty crowded these days. Salo and Daniel Sedin are only the most recent patients, joining wingers Pavol Demitra and Jannik Hansen and defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who have been out since the season started. The Canucks have called up Michael Grabner to replace Sedin on the first line. "With two top-six forwards out we need someone to hopefully step into that role," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "Michael is an offensive player with great speed and pretty good touch around the net."

Flames: Calgary has lost two straight games, but Tuesday's 2-1 loss was much easier to stomach than Sunday's loss to Chicago in a game in which Calgary squandered a five-goal lead. "Our mind-sets were right coming into the game (Tuesday night)," Flames coach Brent Sutter said. "We had a good first period, then we backed off in the second period." Calgary will be looking to put together a complete game this time around.


Who's Hot -- Calgary's Rene Bourque has been on fire to start this season, leading the team in both goals (4) and assists (5). But he has had to be good because the top two offensive guns -- Jarome Iginla and Olli Jokinen -- have been slow out of the gate. For Vancouver, it has been the Henrik Sedin show so far, but it will be interesting to see how he plays without his brother on his line, a relationship that has existed since the two were playing junior hockey back in Sweden. Christian Ehrhoff has been a pleasant surprise so far and will be counted on more heavily with Salo out.

Injury Report: Calgary is much healthier than Vancouver at the moment. In fact, David Moss is their only concern. The young forward is questionable for Friday's game because of a lingering upper-body injury. As mentioned, both Salo and Daniel Sedin are out for at least the next three weeks. Demitra, recovering from shoulder surgery, is out until mid-November. Hansen's broken fingers are almost healed and he could be activated any day. Schneider is also close to being 100 percent, but his return won't come for several more games because he was placed on IR at the start of the season.

Stat Pack: Calgary defenseman Jay Bouwmeester holds the current "ironman" streak in the NHL, playing in 349 straight games. He last missed a regular-season game in his sophomore season of 2003-04.

Puck Drop: Perhaps the most interesting battle in this game will be between the two goalies -- Vancouver's Roberto Luongo and Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff. Each is an elite goaltender and each could be involved in the Olympics when they come to Vancouver this February. But, right now, each is struggling to find its game. Kipper is playing to 3.31 goals-against average, but does have a .903 save percentage. Luongo is hovering at 3.33 in the GAA department and has an untidy .879 save percentage.

Minnesota at. Edmonton

WILD (1-4-0) at OILERS (3-2-1)

Season series -- First of six meetings this season between Northwest Division rivals. Minnesota took four of six from Edmonton last season -- in a scheduling oddity, the teams didn't meet for the first time until Jan. 15. Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom was 4-1 in his five starts against the Oilers, including a 3-0 shutout on March 22.

Big Story -- With the fewest points in the Western Conference, Minnesota isn't off to the start it was looking for under new coach Todd Richards and will be looking to close ground in the division. Edmonton starts off a three-game homestand at Rexall Place, where it went 2-1-1 to begin the season.

Team Scope:

Wild -- The biggest thing Minnesota has to figure out right now is how to win on the road. The Wild have played only once at Xcel Energy Center, and that was a rousing success -- a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Anaheim. Unfortunately, they're playing a stretch of six road games in their first seven to begin the season, and they have yet to pick up a point in enemy territory.
"We need to go out there and make a team earn it," Backstrom said after the Ducks paid the Wild back with a 3-2 win on Wednesday. "Right now it seems like it's too easy for the other team. We need to play our basic game. Now, it seems like we're only doing it for 20 or 30 minutes, or every other shift."

Oilers -- A brief two-game road trip was a relative success for Edmonton -- it started off with a 6-1 thrashing of Nashville and concluded with a narrow 4-3 loss to Chicago in goalie Nikolai Khabibulin's return to the United Center. All three of the Oilers' losses this season have come by a single goal, the first two at home to Calgary.
"There were way too many easy breakouts for them," Oilers defenseman Ladislav Smid said of the Blackhawks. "That's the fastest team we've faced this season. It was a pretty good test for us -- for our D-men and for our structure."

Who's Hot -- Minnesota forwards Eric Belanger and Andrew Brunette did all they could to pull out the Anaheim game by scoring goals. Belanger has a team-leading seven points and Brunette has four goals.
Edmonton coach Pat Quinn said the final score against Chicago was deceiving and the Oilers could have been beaten much worse were it not for the stellar goaltending of Khabibulin, who stopped 34 shots. Defenseman Denis Grebeshkov scored for a second straight game.

Injury Report -- The injury bug has bit in Minnesota. Forward Martin Havlat was the latest casualty, leaving Wednesday's game with a pulled groin muscle. He is day-to-day. Forward Petr Sykora is also out with a groin injury, forward Cal Clutterbuck is on injured reserve with an ankle injury and forward Pierre-Marc Bouchard has played only one game this season due to recurring headaches. Forward Derek Boogaard was activated from injured reserve after missing time due to a concussion, but he was a healthy scratch for the Anaheim game.
Edmonton defenseman Sheldon Souray is on injured reserve with a concussion. Forward Marc-Antoine Pouliot will miss the next 8-10 weeks due to hernia surgery. Defenseman Steve Staios is skating but remains day-to-day after a concussion.

Stat Pack -- Belanger has never scored more than 37 points in an NHL season, reaching that total for the Kings in 2005-06 (17-20-37) and in his first season for the Wild in 2007-08 (13-24-37). He also split the 2006-07 season between the Hurricanes and Thrashers.

Puck Drop -- Veteran forward Owen Nolan offered these words of wisdom as the Wild try to turn things around: "Mistakes are going to happen in this game, but you overcome 'em, push forward, and whatever it takes, find a way to win," he said. "It doesn't matter if you battle, the bottom line is, you need to win."