National Hockey League Betting
Brian Willsie put Los Angeles in front with 5:06 left, Kyle Calder scored twice and the Kings beat the Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks 5-4 Thursday night in the NHL’s preseason opener. The Ducks played at Honda Center for the first time since June 6, when they beat the Ottawa Senators 6-2 in Game 5 of the finals and became the first team from California to win an NHL title.
Sidney Crosby surprised some Pittsburgh Penguins fans last week by knocking on their front door and handing them their season tickets. Quite the delivery man, the NHL’s reigning scoring champion and Most Valuable Player. Now that he’s the Penguins’ captain at the grizzled age of 20, Crosby wouldn’t mind being on the receiving end of a handout himself next June.
Amid the dizzying changes that have taken place with the Washington Capitals over the last dozen years — Stanley Cup finals, new arena, new owners, fire sale, lockout, rebuilding, two uniform changes — the unmistakable constant has been Olie the Goalie. Now 37 years old, Olie Kolzig reported to training camp Thursday looking as spry as he did when he was 27.
Center Alexander Svitov, playing for a team in his native Russia, was suspended by the Blue Jackets on Thursday for failing to report to training camp. Svitov signed a two-year, $2.25 million contract with the Blue Jackets in early July, but has since remained in Russia to play for Avangard Omsk of the Russian Super League.
Sabres defenseman Teppo Numminen needs a third surgery to correct a heart condition. It’s not known when Numminen, who’s consulting with team physicians, will have the procedure and how much time he will miss. The 39-year-old did not report for team physicals Thursday. “After undergoing examination in connection with his preseason evaluation, the Buffalo Sabres medical team has determined that…
Get ready for an NHL big chill on New Year’s Day: Penguins at Sabres in an outdoor game at Ralph Wilson Stadium. The league is set to announce next week that the Buffalo Sabres will host the Pittsburgh Penguins, a person familiar with the event told Sports Betting News, in what would be the NHL’s second outdoor game.
Maple Leafs forward Mark Bell was suspended for 15 games without pay Wednesday by the NHL after his plea last month of no contest to drunken driving and hit-and-run charges. “Playing in the National Hockey League is a privilege, and with that privilege comes a corresponding responsibility for exemplary conduct off the ice as well as on it,” commissioner Gary Bettman said.
The New York Islanders acquired forward Ben Walter and a conditional second-round pick in the 2009 draft from the Boston Bruins on Tuesday for former first-round selection Petteri Nokelainen. Walter, the most valuable player last season for the Bruins’ AHL Providence affiliate, had 24 goals and 43 points in 73 games.
New Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aaron Miller will undergo minor abdominal surgery on Tuesday, one day before the opening of training camp. Miller, who signed a one-year, $1.5-million contract as an unrestricted free agent this summer, is expected to rejoin the Canucks during the preseason, general manager Dave Nonis said in a statement.
The shortest summer in Anaheim Ducks history ended Tuesday when the defending Stanley Cup champions opened training camp without captain Scott Niedermayer and unrestricted free agent Teemu Selanne. Ducks general manager Brian Burke had no other recourse but to suspend Niedermayer, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs and has been contemplating retirement.
