Deen’s Daily: Wedgewood Leads Avs; Familiar First Goals; Are the Penguins Good?

The Avalanche are off to a 2-0-0 start this season. Around the league, first goals were coming from quite a few familiar faces. Also, are the Pittsburgh Penguins actually good?

All that and more on this edition of Deen’s Daily — October 10.

Colorado Hockey Now

Before I break down what I saw on Thursday, I would like to let you know that today will be the first day that CHN+ content returns to Colorado Hockey Now.

It was a weirdly quiet summer for the Avs, and there wasn’t much exclusive content to write about. But with the season already up and running, it’s a perfect time to get subscribed to CHN+ and join me for the season.

Not only do you get to read all that exclusive content from inside the locker room, but you also get to navigate this website without any advertisements or pop-ups. It’s much cleaner that way.

For a few bucks a month, it’s worth the price to have all of that. But to make it more enticing, you can use promo code Deen10 to get 25% off an annual subscription to CHN+ content.

I’ve got good stuff from the locker room after that game on Thursday that you’ll love reading about. And I do appreciate anyone who invests in me and my writing.

Anyway, back to hockey. (Sorry for the shameless plug.)

The Avalanche’s home opener was a tale of two games. The second period was the outlier, and the 20 minutes of action that this team probably wants to wash away.

They rebounded well in the third, got a power-play goal from Nathan MacKinnon, and went on to defeat the Utah Mammoth 2-1. Albeit they still needed their goalie to save them a bunch of times in the later stages of this one.

Suddenly, Scott Wedgewood is 2-0-0, having surrendered just two goals in as many games, and both were while the other team was on the power play. Not bad.

Here’s The Aftermath. What worked, what didn’t.

READ MORE: The Aftermath: Wedgewood Shines, Avalanche Defeat Mammoth 2-1 in Home Opener

Around The NHL

There were a bunch of teams that played their first game of the season yesterday.

Mikko Rantanen got the first goal for the Stars in a crazy game against Winnipeg. The Islanders season started with a goal from Jonathan Drouin. And Boston’s first goal? It came from none other than Casey Mittelstadt.

Just a funny way to watch the day unfold for a bunch of former Avs that were key pieces of the top six on opening night last year. In fact, those three guys and Nathan MacKinnon made up three of the top four available forwards on Oct. 9, 2024 in Vegas.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The Penguins didn’t let the Drouin goal sink them. They’re now 2-0-0 on the season and being led by a redemption season from Evgeni Malkin.

Montreal Hockey Now: The Habs rebounded from a tough loss in Toronto and absolutely crushed the Red Wings. The forward they got from St. Louis is doing a lot of scoring in the early going.

New Jersey Hockey Now: Tough season opener for Sheldon Keefe and the Devils. They lose to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Detroit Hockey Now: I’m not even sure what to say about the Red Wings season opener. All the excitement for their centennial season, the rookies, and a new goalie John Gibson.

They got smashed by the Habs, and Gibson was pulled for letting in five goals. Very frustrating all around.