Morning Briefing - October 1: MacKinnon Fights, Lehkonen Scores Twice and Low-Rostered Power-Play Options Emerge on Opening Night for some squads

TL;DR

• Filip Hallander had 3 points (1 G, 2 A) in his season debut, skating with Ville Koivunen and Hendrix Lapierre in Pittsburgh's 7-0 rout of Philadelphia.
• With Bryan Rust and Andrei Kuzmenko out, Egor Chinakhov and Tommy Novak got a big bump in power-play time, at 72% and 59% of Pittsburgh's PP minutes. Novak may have taken Kuzmenko's spot on the top unit, but we won't really know until Kuzmenko is back.
• Artturi Lehkonen scored twice on the top line with Martin Necas and Nathan MacKinnon in Colorado's 8-4 home-opener win.
• Matias Maccelli (2% rostered) played 62% of the Islanders' power-play time in the loss. He's probably filling in for Mathew Barzal for now, so treat it as a short-term role.

MacKinnon and Clarke drop the gloves

COL, LAK · Fight

Nathan MacKinnon and Brandt Clarke fought at 13:20 of the third period of Colorado's 8-4 win over Los Angeles. MacKinnon finished with 2 G, 8 SOG, 2 hits and 5 PIM. Clarke had 1 SOG, 2 blocks and 5 PIM.

Watch the fight (Sportsnet)

Hallander makes an immediate impact

PIT · CENTER

Filip Hallander had a goal and two assists in his first game, skating with Ville Koivunen and Hendrix Lapierre in the 7-0 win over Philadelphia. He's rostered in only 0.4% of leagues, so few managers have noticed him yet. Three points from a depth line is worth watching, but only if he keeps the role.

Lehkonen scores twice in the home opener

COL · LEFT WING

Artturi Lehkonen scored twice in the 8-4 win, playing on the top line with Martin Necas and Nathan MacKinnon. He wasn't on the first power-play unit. He's rostered in 21.7% of leagues. Top-line minutes are a good sign, but one two-goal night isn't enough to call it a lasting role change.

Stolarz steals one for Toronto

TOR · GOALTENDER

Anthony Stolarz stopped 26 of 27 shots and saved 1.7 goals above expected in Toronto's 2-1 win over New York. A night like this looks more like sharp positioning and execution than a sign he'll keep up this pace.

Silovs perfect in the shutout

PIT · GOALTENDER

Arturs Silovs stopped all 19 shots he faced, +1.6 goals saved above expected, in Pittsburgh's 7-0 rout. He had a clean night, but the margin of the blowout says as much about the defense in front of him and the power play as it does about him.

Letang and Palat fire away

PIT, NYI · DEFENSEMAN, LEFT WING

Kris Letang had 4 shots on goal, well above his usual 1.4 per game. Ondrej Palat also had 4, against a baseline of 1.2. Neither played on his team's first power-play unit. One-night shot spikes usually don't mean much for usage, but Letang's activity on the second pair with van Riemsdyk is worth watching.

Cowan and Sissons productive early

TOR · RIGHT WING, CENTER

Easton Cowan (9.4% rostered) has 1 goal and 2 assists through two games. Colton Sissons (0.2%) has 1 goal in the same span. Both played on the third line last night and neither is on the first power-play unit.

From the beat

• Injury (ANA) · @PatrickCPresent: Drew Helleson's IR placement is backdated to when he got hurt (9/20), so he can be activated as soon as he's recovered.
• Lineup (TOR) · @davidalter: Zack MacEwen looks like the scratch to make room for Bo Groulx. MacEwen wasn't on the ice for warmups.
• Injury (PIT) · @penguins: Blake Lizotte has been activated from injured reserve.
• Injury (NJD) · @JamesNicholsNHL: Connor Brown will miss the Devils' home opener and possibly more.
• Injury (DAL) · @Lassimak, @OwenNewkirk: Matt Duchene is doubtful for Friday's opener. Glen Gulutzan said he had a setback with the lower-body injury from the start of camp, which is unrelated to last season's concussion (source), and is back in a maintenance program. Dallas plans to dress 11 forwards and 7 defensemen against St. Louis.

Low-rostered players who ran the first power play

COL, LAK, NYI, PIT · PP1

COL

• Gabriel Landeskog (21% rostered): 58% of the power play (4:08 of 7:06), 1 G, 1 SOG. At even strength he played on the second line with Brock Nelson and Nazem Kadri. Landeskog spent most of last season on the second unit. Now that he's healthy, he's getting a look with Colorado's top guys right from the start.

LAK, without Kevin Fiala (lower leg), a power-play regular last season

• Mats Zuccarello (28% rostered): 57% of the power play (5:02 of 8:52), 0 SOG. At even strength he played on the second line with Alex Turcotte and Alex Laferriere. He could lose the PP spot when Fiala returns, but at 39 he's still one of the most creative passers in the league.

NYI, without Mathew Barzal (knee), a power-play regular last season

• Kyle Palmieri (9% rostered): 63% of the power play (5:39 of 9:01), 4 SOG. At even strength he played on the top line with Bo Horvat and Simon Holmstrom.
• Matias Maccelli (2% rostered): 62% of the power play (5:33 of 9:01), 1 SOG. At even strength he played on the second line with Calum Ritchie and Brayden Schenn.
• Brayden Schenn (22% rostered): 60% of the power play (5:22 of 9:01), 1 SOG. He played on the same second line as Maccelli and Ritchie.

PIT, without Bryan Rust (upper body) and Andrei Kuzmenko (personal), both power-play regulars last season

• Egor Chinakhov (11% rostered): 72% of the power play (5:01 of 6:55), 1 G, 3 SOG. At even strength he played on the second line with Evgeni Malkin and Tommy Novak.

Top power play, under 30% rostered

Players who took more than half of their team's power-play time and are rostered in under 30% of ESPN leagues.

Unusual stat lines