Good morning, everyone.  I was up for some reason so I did your FTB today.

The curse is real!

Last night in the Vegas win (!!!) over St. Louis, Malcolm Subban sustained an injury and had to leave the game.

Oscar Dansk, another reclamation project Vegas decided on for goalie depth, came in in relief and got the win when Vegas scored in OT.

Now how Vegas got here — and here is setting a record for wins by an expansion team in the opening of their first season — is the cautionary tale about waving goalies and the curse of Malcolm Subban.

Boston started it all by waiving Subban to send to the minors. They figured they had better options, and they wanted Anton Khudobin to be the backup.

Subban went to Vegas, who waived Calvin Pickard and then decided they had so much depth they could trade him to Toronto.  The curse first struck Marc-Andre Fleury who is out with a concussion sustained in a game.  Next the curse took out Tuukka Rask, who got bowled over in practice and is out with a concussion.

So Vegas had Subban and a guy named Maxime Lagace.  Boston has Khudobin and all of that depth they liked better than Subban.  Toronto has so many goalies, they could pop Kasimir Kaskisuo off to the ECHL to help out while the Solar Bears guy is injured.

Vegas swapped Lagace and Dansk for conditioning reasons and Oscar Dansk has his first NHL win after the curse of Malcolm Subban took out the man himself.

You really can’t have too much goalie depth.  But Vegas isn’t the dumb one here, Boston is.  Vegas should be tanking, and they have the stable of goalies to do it when they stop winning accidentally.  Boston wasn’t willing to develop their goalie prospect now, so they lost him in favour of Zane McIntyre, who might get some more NHL starts.  Maybe he’ll be something someday.

Last Night’s Games

Leafs 3 - Senators 6: At times that resembled hockey - Pension Plan Puppets
Not too often though

Women's Hockey: CWHL Markham Thunder win home opener vs Kunlun Red Star - Pension Plan Puppets
Markham Thunder, Liz Knox spoil Kunlun’s debut

Oilers Lose to Flyers, 2-1 - The Copper & Blue
Still have not been able to string two wins together

Game Recap: Bruins vs. Buffalo Sabres 10/21 - Stanley Cup of Chowder
1st Period

Krejci, although a participant in the warmup, is a late scratch. He is replaced in lineup by Matt Beleskey. Not ideal. The Bruins find some offensive zone rythm, getting a few shots...

Golden Knights edge Blues 3-2 in overtime despite injury to Malcolm Subban - Knights On Ice
The Golden Knights are now down to Oscar Dansk as their goaltender, but that didn’t keep them from picking up the win Saturday night.

Quick Strikes: Kucherov leads Lightning to victory. - Raw Charge
The Crunch win, the Detroit Red Wings make a trade and the NHL admits a mistake

LA Kings @ Columbus Blue Jackets Game 7 Recap: A difficult insect extermination, but we’ll honor our estimate - Jewels From The Crown
In the biggest test of the season so far, the Kings score six goals to defeat the relentless, buzzing attack of the Blue Jackets.

Reimer stops 41 as Panthers end skid with 4-1 win over Capitals - Litter Box Cats
Cats post first road win of 2017-18

Late goal extends Arizona Coyotes losing streak - Five For Howling
The Coyotes try to hang on, but they couldn’t swing the win.

KK: Don’t be bashful, Yotes fans, it’s not so much a losing streak as a permanent place in the basement unable to win at all.  Even the Habs have won one game.

If I just dumped my browsing history on you, like I usually do when I do an FTB, it would be all how to troubleshoot various bugs in Windows 10.  So, let’s see....

New York City’s Libraries Will Forgive All Children’s Fines - The New York Times
An amnesty at the city’s three library systems will wipe out fines for all children, allowing 160,000 youngsters whose borrowing privileges had been suspended to check out books again.

European Report: up, down and out, but mostly up for a change - Pension Plan Puppets
There’s goals here to watch while you catch up on the prospects.

KK: this is all the stuff I’ve read that isn’t English, distilled into English.

The TSN Hockey Bobcast - Season 2 - Episode 3 - Sports News, Opinion, Scores, Schedules | TSN
On this edition of the TSN Hockey Bobcast, TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie pays tribute to the great Gord Downie, discusses some of the Tragically Hip’s music and its influence, and shares some of the conversations he had with Gord.

KK: not my thing, but the whole episode is about Downie.

The work ‘continues - and begins’ with Ken Dryden’s Game Change - Article - TSN

KK: This very much is my thing. Bob McKenzie’s rumination on Dryden’s book, the issue of concussion in sport and the crushing fatigue of having the same social issue argument every day of your life all in one place.  Really worth your time.

White Working-Class Populism & Conservatism Are Incompatible | National Review
Conservative criticism of minorities who reinforce their generational poverty should apply to underclass whites as well ...

KK: that sounds really dry, and it’s the National Review, so, you know, but this is excellent. A deeply personal and intelligent examination of the intersection of class and race.  The opening about hip hop and rap personas really resonated with me in respect to the demands for hockey players with “personality”.

Okay, that’s it, this is what you get when I’ve been busy with dull blog admin stuff and fixing my damn computer.

Happy Sunday!

Edited to add: Look who’s back!

From The Branches