Posted by Gayle Simone, Sun Staff

The second installment of updates and news around the world of hockey....

Buffalo had their streak ended at 10 games, losing Saturday night in a shoot out to Atlanta. The Sabres now share the best record to start a season with the 1993 Maple Leafs. It was an amazing run for Buffalo and don't be surprised if they go back on a winning streak, hey maybe, just maybe, the Bruins can capitalize and serve Buffalo another loss Thursday night at the Garden ... I can hope can't I?....

Speaking of the Bruins... Captain Zdeno Chara led his team to victory over his old squad, Ottawa, Saturday at the Garden. One thing that impressed me was the Bs actually skated for 60 minutes and the only goal they allowed was the full 5-on-3 penalty kill ... Tim Thomas looked pretty solid in net, but I'm still not ready to call Belfour to order the rings and wait outside Gov't Center to see the Cup hoisted.....

The Flyers are now officially last in the entire league with a record of 2-7-1 for 5
points. They got trounced on Saturday 8-2 at the skates of Pittsburgh ....

Speaking of the Pens... Sidney Crosby got his first career hat trick in the game and his counter part, Evgeni Malkin registered his 5th goal in as many games. Pittsburgh sits in second place in their division (1-point behind the Devils). Who would have guessed the Penguins would have gone from worst in the league last year to what they have done thus far....

Joe Thornton scored his first goal of the season in San Jose's 4-2 win over Tampa Bay Saturday night. Thornton has 13 assists to go along with his lone goal this season so far....

The Devils erased the memory of a 6-4 loss in Springfield Friday night when they beat the same team 4-1 at the Tsongas Saturday afternoon. A scary moment came when Captain Dan McGillis went down in the second with a stick to the face. McGillis returned for the 3rd and after the game this is what he had to say about it...
"A couple of stitches, not too bad. At least it's just skin, skin heals. I'm just glad it wasn't my teeth, that would mean going to the dentist and I hate that."

The Devils held a Halloween contest at the game. Thomas Meal of Chelmsford won a chance to go Trick-or-Treating with the Devils mascot tomorrow night.

The Baby Bs won both their contests this past weekend with a 5-4 shoot out win over Bridgeport and 7-4 at Portland.

Providence is 4-2-1 while the Devils are 3-4 so far this season...

Now on to Hockey East ....

Talking to McGillis after the Devils game I realized how much he still cares about his roots.
He asked me if I saw that the Huskies lost to Michigan 4-3 in OT the night before. See, McGillis was also a Husky. It's always nice to see a hockey player so far removed from his college days (he played from 1992 - 1996 at NU) still checking how the team's doing (not to mention he remembered that I also graduated from Northeastern LOL). Not to worry Husky fans, Northeastern bounced back and defeated Michigan 3-2 on Saturday. The Huskies will also travel to New Hampshire on Friday when they take on the Wildcats in a Hockey East game - GOOOO HUSKIES!

The women's team didn't fair as well, they dropped a 7-4 decision to BC on Sunday at Matthews Arena.

The Riverhawks skated to a 2-2 tie with Providence Saturday night at the Tsongas after defeating BU 2-1 the night before. BU will look to get revenge when they take on Lowell Friday night at the Tsongas. The Riverhawks currently sit in second place in Hockey East with 3 points, just one behind BU.

Hockey East match-ups this week:
Tues., Oct. 31 - BC @ Providence

Fri., Nov. 3 - Providence @ Massachusetts; Boston University @ UMass Lowell; Northeastern @ UNH and Maine @ Merrimack

Sat., Nov. 4 - Massachusetts @ Providence; Merrimack @ UMass Lowell; Maine @ BU; UNH @ Northeastern and Vermont @ BC

The Bruins take on Buffalo at the Garden Thursday night, then Tampa Bay on Saturday - How many points do you think the Bs can take out of the two games? The Devils have 3 games this weekend - Fri. at Manchester, Sat. at Binghampton and Sunday at home when the face the Falcons again... Think the Devils can sweep the weekend?