Busy night

Two thirds of the league's teams were in action last night and here are some thoughts.

The Colorado Avalanche remain strong on home ice (6-0 so far) as they rallied from a 0-2 deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2. The Penguins continue to struggle with inconsistency.

Henrik Lundqvist took all 31 shots fired at him by the Washington Capitals to, once again, bail out his team. The Rangers managed to score a goal in each of the last two periods to seal a 2-0 win. Forward Brendan Shanahan said, "You have to give all the credit to Hank...in the first period it was really just him." Couldn't have said it better myself.

The seemingly unstopable Henrik Zetterberg was named NHL's player of the month for October, and against the Calgary Flames he just kept on rolling. The visiting Red Wings won the game 4-1 and Zetterberg was credited with two goals. Chris Osgood was solid in goal. After his 26 save, .963 night in Alberta he is a perfect 7-0 this season.

The Nashville Predators were looking for their first win on the road, and who better to get it from than the hopeless Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks were 1-5 in their own building and of course they lett this one slip through their fingers as well as the Preds won it 3-0.

What is going on with the Minnesota Wild? After the beating at home against St. Louis, they have no wins in the last five games. That 7-0-1 season start seems ever so distant right now.

In Ottawa the Senators collected their fifth straigh win after a close call with the Atlanta Thrashers. Sens were up 5-0 after two periods, but then saw the Thrashers come within a goal before Daniel Alfredsson scored a short-handed goal to seal the win. Three of Atlanta's goals came from Ilya Kovalchuk who appeared in his 400th NHL game.

Mathieu Schneider made his long awaited debut for the Anaheim Ducks in a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. To top it off he also scored the game-winner in the shoot-out. Rob Niedermayer, who returned after missing three games (groin), also scored for the Ducks.

Philadelphia are 4-0 at home this season, but on the road they have now dropped three of the last four games. After losing twice down in Florida and then winning in Beantown, they fell short 5-2 against the Montreal Canadiens. Flyers forward Daniel Briere, who turned down an offer from the Habs to sign with the Philadelphia, was booed every time he touched the puck throughout the night.

The Boston Bruins bounced back from their only loss on home ice, against Philadelphia, to beat visiting Buffalo. Marco Sturm got the winner in overtime.