This is the Weekend Watch. It’s a guide of what to watch this weekend.
Saturday: Toronto at Montreal, 7 pm ET
There’s widespread panic across Montreal as the Canadiens have yet to win at the Bell Center. Losses to Calgary, Colorado and Buffalo have Habs fans seething; they haven’t started this poorly at home since 1938 and according to Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette, “What some fans want Habs management to do is anatomically impossible. Even if they’re double-jointed.”
Saturday: San Jose at Boston, 7 pm ET
Sharks C Joe Thornton has only played in Boston three times since getting traded. In his first game back, he got tossed for hitting Hal Gill from behind. In his second game back, he scored a goal. In his third game back, he threw a game-high six hits. The point of this is that whenever Thornton goes back to The Garden, something noteworthy seems to occur. WHICH IS WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH THE GAME, SEE.
Saturday: Detroit at Washington, 7 pm ET
Barring injury, this will be Nicklas Lidstrom’s 1500th NHL game -- yet that might not be the biggest storyline. Depending on what Detroit does against Columbus tonight, this could be a matchup of the NHL’s only unblemished teams. The Caps are off to a 6-0-0 start and the Wings currently sit at 4-0-0. Expect to hear lots of “possible Stanley Cup preview” chatter around this game, because that’s what hockey people do when they’re bored in October.
Saturday: Colorado at Chicago, 8:30 pm ET
The second of a home-and-home series (Chicago won 3-1 Thursday night in Colorado), this game could provide Semyon Varlamov with a chance to add to his “save of the year” dossier. His first entry was on Marcus Kruger late in the third period of Thursday’s game. You can watch the video here. Of course, the Avs could start J.S. Giguere in net and render this entire preview moot. I bet that’s what happens now, too. My life is one big Ziggy cartoon.
Sunday: Phoenix at Anaheim, 8 pm ET
You should watch this game because there’s nothing else on TV this Sunday. What’s that? The NFL? Oh yeah. Well that’s okay -- they play football during the morning and afternoon, and this game is on at night. What’s that? NBC has Sunday Night Football?
Enjoy the weekend, everybody. And thanks for being so nice to us during our first week on the job. Except for that one commenter that told me to get a grip. That was mean.