Chicago 5, LA 2 – The Kings got whipped on their long-awaited banner-raising night.  Adroitly, the NHL pushed back its other 3 PM starts to 3:30 so that the banner raising would open the season and everyone could watch it (though deciding it more in advance than say, a half hour before the other games’ scheduled start would have been nicer).  And yes, I did watch the ceremony.  Although it was good the Kings had the relatives of the Sandy Hook tragedy on hand to help handle the banner, everything else about that just seemed too Hollywood, including the stupid SC winners’ patch on their jerseys.  Patrick Kane scored the first goal of the new season as the Hawks jumped out to a 4-0 lead by early in the second period and never looked back.

Pittsburgh 3, Philly 1 – Marc-Andre Fleury bounced back from a nightmarish playoffs with a strong game against the team that bounced the Pens last Spring.  It wasn’t quite the pond hockey that April’s playoff series was, but far more compelling from what little I did watch – mostly just to hear Doc Emrick‘s voice again since I really have little interest in watching two teams I don’t like.  It wasn’t decided until Chris Kunitz‘s empty-netter with twelve seconds left sealed the issue.

Ottawa 4, Winnipeg 1 – Although big Dustin Byfuglien (one of my favorite non-Devils) scored early, the Jets surprisingly got run off their home ice by the Senators after that.  Ottawa took a step toward proving their playoff appearance last year wasn’t a fluke by smoking one of the league’s best home teams with four straight goals, incluing a power-play goal early in the third by Erik Karlsson, who re-established his Norris candidacy early.  I had wanted to watch some of this game on Center Ice because of my lack of interest in Pittsburgh-Philly but of course the CI free preview was wonky and didn’t work properly until real late at night.  GameCenter users had similar issues (and NHL/team websites froze up as well), you’d think for a billion-dollar corporation the NHL would have these bugs under control and everything ready to go.

Toronto 2, Montreal 1 – I also wanted to watch some of this game, but despite the fact the NHLN graciously put this on in place of the Rangers game (blacked out locally) I couldn’t watch much of it because I was focused on the Devils, though I did see a couple of minute of the Habs’ opening ceremony with Brian Gionta skating a torch out to Center Ice.  Still kinda wish he was on the Devils, especially after he scored in the third period to get the Habs’ only goal, but surprise Leafs starter Ben Scrivens was strong in net and two Leafs power play goals were the difference in a 2-1 decision.

Tampa Bay 6, Washington 3 – Not a great opener for former Devil assistant Adam Oates, as three third-period goals by the Lightning broke open a tie game, and gave new goalie Anders Lindback a win in his first start.  Old reliable Martin St. Louis scored two of the Lightning goals, in a theme that would become prevalent around the league with vets such as St. Louis, Jaromir Jagr, Teemu Selanne and Martin Brodeur showing they still ‘got it’.

Florida 5, Carolina 1 – Besides the vets showing they still got it, many young guns showed they were ready and able to contribute around the league, and one of them was the Panthers’ Johnathan Huberdeau – who had a goal and two assists in his first NHL game.  Florida chased Cam Ward to the bench after a four-goal first period and won easily in front of a sold-out crowd.  And speaking of old guys contributing, Derek’s buddy Alexei Kovalev also had his own three-point night for the Panthers, after winning a job during camp.

St. Louis 6, Detroit 0 – Perhaps the biggest eye-opener of the night, not so much for the Blues winning at home, but by a whopping margin against a proud Red Wings team obviously having trouble adjusting to life without Nicklas Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom and departed FA Brad Stuart.  Even with proud vets like Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk still remaining, they were no match for a young, hungry Blues team spurred by yet another rookie – talented Vladimir Tarasenko, who scored two highlight reel goals last night that popped up all over YouTube.  Another theme around the league yesterday was big-name goalies like Ward, the Wings’ Jimmy Howard and the Canucks’ Cory Schnieder (more on that later) getting chased as well as others like Quick not having the best of nights in their return.

Columbus 3(SO), Nashville 2 – In perhaps the least-hyped opener of the thirteen, came the only one that went all the way to a shootout.  At least for one night, Jacket fans can have hope in the post-Rick Nash era as another Derek buddy – Artem Anismov – scored the tying goal in the second period, and new goalie Sergei Bobrovsky turned in a winning performance on the road, outlasting one of the best in the league (Pekka Rinne) in a six-round shootout.

Dallas 4, Phoenix 3 – Perhaps the most eye-opening individual performance was by Jagr, whose four-point night sent a message that the big Czech isn’t quite finished yet, after a 2011-12 season in Philly where he seemed worn down and disinterested by the end.  Fellow greybeard Ray Whitney also had a goal and an assist against his former team, as the Stars won a back-and-forth game at home.

Minnesota 4, Colorado 2 – This one went about as expected in my book.  It was inevitable the Wild would win their opener at home, in front of a crowd that couldn’t wait to welcome hometown hero Zach Parise, fellow UFA signing Ryan Suter and other younger additions, such as Mikael Granlund – who scored his first NHL goal last night.  Three second-period goals (two on the power play) provided the difference as the Avs fans are wondering how much longer Ryan O’Reilly will pout in the KHL.

Anaheim 7, Vancouver 3 – If St. Louis smoking Detroit at home wasn’t the biggest shocker, the Ducks pounding Vancouver on the road was.  With all the talk about Vancouver’s backup goalie Roberto Luongo, their starter Schnieder had a nightmarish debut and got pulled for Luongo at 5-2 in the second period, giving up those five goals on just fourteen shots.  This problem might not go away soon for Nucks fans, especially with their rumored trading partner in Toronto waiting to see a little while longer what they have in Scrivens.  Meanwhile, the NHL’s oldest player continued to dazzle as Selanne had his own two goal, two assist night, moving higher into the top twenty all-time in points.  Selanne’s the oldest player to have a four-point night since some guy named Gordie Howe.