Morning Skate: Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews combine for a perfect NHL opening night

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Lace 'em up. Time for the Morning Skate.

AWESOME MATTHEWS

Man, what a quiet night in the NHL, right gu—

JUST KIDDING WHAT EVEN HAPPENED

It was nuts. We’ll have more this morning on just how crazy the NHL’s opening night was; we literally had every possible talking point hockey event happen in a span of six hours. It was great.

But first, Auston Matthews. The first overall pick upstaged the entire sports world last night with FOUR GOALS on six shots in his debut game. No rookie has ever done that. It was 12 minutes of hockey joy. And his mom is the best hockey mom.

Just fantastic. Here’s what else happened on Wednesday:

• The reigning Hart Trophy winner was defeated by an umbrella. More like raining Hart Trophy winner, righ—
• Jack Eichel suffered a pretty gnarly looking injury in practice. Sabres fans already have to wonder how the team will cope without their franchise player.
• Jonathan Quick scared the heck out of Joe Pavelski and then left with an injury. Talk about an emotional Kings roller coaster.
• Not to be outdone by Matthews, the Oilers’ new captain, Connor McDavid, did some pretty amazing things as well in a fun win.
• Two goals already for Vladimir Tarasenko. Ho-hum.

THE NIGHT AHEAD

Wednesday was just a taste; 18 more teams hit the ice tonight. Let’s head around our blog network for some previews.

• The two New York teams square off first. The Islanders are entering a season full of risk and uncertainty. The Rangers are just trying to buy time to make more roster moves.
• Boston will be without their best player tonight in Columbus. The Blue Jackets will try to move on from whatever happened last year.
• You already know the Sabres won’t have Jack Eichel tonight. The Canadiens won’t have their star, either.
• Two teams with a lot of optimism face off in Sunrise tonight.
• After a frustrating offseason, Red Wings fans are just happy to have real hockey back.
• Two Finns make for an exciting Hurricanes debut.
• Dallas opens the season with plenty of questions once again.

ELSEWHERE IN HOCKEY LAND

• Just who is P.A. Parenteau? Why is he in New Jersey? WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS
• We found an EXCLUSIVE look into Jack Capuano’s inbox.
• Ivan Provorov is NUMBER ONE HOCKEY BOY
• Rangers leadership is already on notice.
• Poor discipline could doom the Pride.