A meno di una settimana dal primo ingaggio stagionale i General Manager di ogni squadra si trovano a dover smaltire le rose e a fare i conti con i primi infortuni: Jeremy Roenick, il colpo dell’estate di L.A., rischia di perdere gran parte della stagione a causa di una commozione celebrale dovuta alla carica violenta di Denis Gauthier subita nell’amichevole contro Phoenix. Detroit perderà per almeno quattro mesi, ma si parla anche di sei, il giovane promettente difensore Nicklas Kronwall a causa di un brutto infortunio al ginocchio sinistro rimediato in allenamento; come se non bastasse anche il capitano dei Red Wings, Steve Yzerman è alle prese con degli acciacchi fisici che probabilmente lo costringeranno a non poter scendere sul giaccio per le prime partite di regular season. Anche i Calgary Flames perderanno Robyn Regehr, pezzo fondamentale nella loro difesa, per più di un mese a causa di uno stiramento al ginocchio.
Nella notte si sono disputati ben dieci incontri, con ben tre big match (Toronto-Detroit, Philadelphia-New Jersey e Calgary-Vancouver) e il primo attesissimo incontro tra Sidney Crosby e Alexander Ovechkin:
> Nashville – Atlanta 2-3
1st period scoring:
0-1 ATL – Vigier (Hossa), 1:02.
0-2 ATL – Kozlov (PP)(Modry, Havelid), 9:58.
2nd period scoring:
1-2 NAS – Hamhuis (PP)(Gamche), 2:49.
2-2 NAS – Upshall (Gamache, Robitaille), 9:38.
3rd period scoring:
2-3 ATL – Holik (PP)(Modry, Vigier), 6:33.
> Pittsburgh – Washington 3-4
1st period scoring:
1-0 PIT – Christensen (Surovy, Ouellet), 17:59.
2-0 PIT – Ouellet (PP)(Koltsov, Scuderi), 2:11.
2nd period scoring:
2-1 WAS – Ovechkin (Willsie, Muir), 5:20.
2-2 WAS – Halpern (PP)(Ovechkin, Morrisonn), 18:35.
3rd period scoring:
2-3 WAS – Ovechkin (SH), 3:09.
2-4 WAS – Ovechkin (Zubrus, Halpern), 12:45.
3-4 PIT – Pirjeta (Fata, Scuderi), 17:26.
> Chicago – Columbus 3-4
1st period scoring:
0-1 CLB – Fritsche (Vyborny), 6:37.
1-1 CHI – Bourque (PP)(Ruutu, Aucoin), 18:51.
2nd period scoring:
1-2 CLB – Hartigan (PP)(Brule, Vyborny), 7:15.
2-2 CHI – Arnason (PP)(Bell, Vandermeer), 17:25.
3rd period scoring:
2-3 CLB – Fritsche (Letowski, Suchy), 6:47.
2-4 CLB – Letowski, 9:47.
3-4 CHI – Seabrook (Barnaby, Arnason), 15:13.
> Philadelphia – New Jersey 3-5
1st period scoring:
0-1 NJ – Malakhov (PP)(Gomez, Kozlov), 12:12.
0-2 NJ – Malakhov (PP)(Gomez), 18:12.
2nd period scoring:
1-2 PHI – Desjardins (PP)(Sim), 6:48.
1-3 NJ – Gionta (PP)(Martin, Kozlov), 17:00.
2-3 PHI – Handzus (Brashear, Radivojevic), 17:28.
3rd period scoring:
3-3 PHI – Richards (Sim, Sharp), 0:53.
3-4 NJ – Madden (PP)(Langenbrunner, White), 11:32.
3-5 NJ – Langenbrunner, 19:14
> Toronto – Detroit 4-3
1st period scoring:
1-0 TOR – Sundin (PP)(McCabe, Kaberle), 17:41.
2-0 TOR – O’Neill (PP)(Tucker, Berg), 18:40.
2nd period scoring:
2-1 DET – Shanahan (PP)(Lang, Schneider), 6:05.
3-1 TOR – Stajan (SH)(Steen, McCabe), 9:47.
3-2 DET – Schneider (PP)(Lidstrom, Lang).
3rd period scoring:
4-2 TOR – Colaiacovo (Kronwall, Sundin), 8:58.
4-3 DET – Maltby, 14:55.
> Carolina – Tampa Bay 5-2
1st period scoring:
1-0 CAR – Cullen (Commodore, Cole), 17:28.
1-1 TAM – Fedotenko (PP)(Kubina, Sydor), 17:55.
2nd period scoring:
2-1 CAR – Nordgren (SH)(Brind’Amour), 1:08.
2-2 TAM – Kubina (PP)(Sydor, Fedotenko), 1:37.
3rd period scoring:
3-2 CAR – Brind’Amour (PP)(Hutchinson, Cole), 7:29.
4-2 CAR – Vasicek (Stillman, Staal), 8:20.
5-2 CAR – Vasicek (PP)(Stillman, Tverdovsky), 18:50.
> Minnesota – Buffalo 3-5
1st period scoring:
1-0 MIN – Bouchard (PP)(Koivu), 1:23.
1-1 BUF – Drury (PP)(Hecht, Campbell), 13:24.
1-2 BUF – Afinogenov (PP)(Dumont, Campbell), 18:32.
1-3 BUF – Hecht (Drury, Grier), 19:44.
2nd period scoring:
2-3 MIN – Walz (PS), 10:37.
2-4 BUF – Drury (PP)(Hecht, Afinogenov), 11:50.
3rd period scoring:
3-4 MIN – Burns (Walz), 1:18.
3-5 BUF – Kotalik (Afinogenov), 2:03.
> Calgary – Vancouver 2-4
1st period scoring:
0-1 VAN – Goren (PP)(Morrison, Salo), 3:04.
2nd period scoring:
1-1 CAL – Leopold (Nilson, Reinprecht), 13:11.
1-2 VAN – D.Sedin (PP)(Carter, H.Sedin), 15:43.
1-3 VAN – Naslund.
3rd period scoring:
2-3 CAL – Iginla (Langkow, Reinprecht), 1:28.
2-4 VAN – D.Sedin.
> Phoenix – San Jose 1-2
1st period scoring: –
2nd period scoring:
0-1 SJ – Sturm (Marleau, Hannan), 4:22.
1-1 PHO – Johnson (SH), 12:30.
3rd period scoring:
2-1 SJ – Marleau (Clowe, Stuart), 13:27.
> Los Angeles – Anaheim 4-5
1st period scoring:
0-1 ANA – Lupul (SH)(Fedorov), 2:23.
1-1 LA – Kostopoulos (PP)(Clarke, Cammalleri), 9:20.
2nd period scoring:
1-2 ANA – Fedorov (Fedoruk, Lupul), 1:59.
1-3 ANA – Lupul (Fedorov, Fedoruk), 6:51.
2-3 LA – Demitra (PP)(Corvo, Visnovsky), 10:53.
3-3 LA – Belanger (PP)(Visnovsky), 15:55.
3-4 ANA – Fedorov (Lupul, Fedoruk), 16:39.
3rd period scoring:
3-5 ANA – McDonald (Penner, Perry), 2:43.
4-5 LA – Demitra (Belanger), 10:24.