NHL Tuesday: Suter faces Predators, Blues vs. Hawks in Central battle

He expressed those frustrations to the media following the loss, saying:

“So the second time I got high-sticked close to my throat again I looked around and he’s staring at me,” said Ribeiro. “I’m like, ‘Why are you not calling this one?’ Well I guess he wasn’t happy about that. I guess I said stuff that my kids won’t like too much. I just feel like you’re not allowed to talk to them anymore about situations that happens in a game. They believe they’re like above us or like more power, they feel power, I don’t know. I think I need to just stay focused on my game and let them ref the way they want to ref. When you get high-sticked or [ask them for an] explanation what happened there?”

Duchene had played literally just about every other even strength shift for the Avs to that point in the game, and all of Denver held their breath as their best players skated to the bench to get examined by team doctors.

Duchene finished the game leading all forwards (on either team) in ice time with 22:19. He put the “19 stitches” thing off until after the game. Here’s how he looked via Mike Chambers of the Denver Post:

It seems, however, that Red Wings fans thought it was a bit bigger a deal than it was. Some behind Lehtonen’s goal were clearly taunting the Stars goalie after the goal, and well ... he gave it right back. Watch at the :12 second mark above.

h/t Sean Leahy

Jessica Ghawi, known by most in the hockey world as Jessica Redfield, covered the Colorado Avalanche last season. Last July, she was gunned down in the tragic Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting that killed her and 11 others.

The Avalanche returned to the Pepsi Center ice on Tuesday night for the first time since last April, and the media returned to the press box along with them. Jessica wasn’t there, but Jessica was there.

Kopitar led the Kings in scoring last season with 76 points, but he’s been hampered by a knee injury he suffered while playing in Sweden during the NHL lockout. Kopitar participated in the team’s morning skate on Tuesday and said his sprained right knee felt good. He said it felt good to go all out and thinks he is ready to play.

He finished last season with 25 goals and 51 assists and admitted it wasn’t fun to watch the Kings raise the Stanley Cup banner while he watched on television. Still, he said he’d rather miss a game and be able to return for the rest of the season then return to soon only to be sidelined a lot longer.

There are nine games in the NHL on Tuesday night, headlined by Ryan Suter’s first matchup against his old team, the Nashville Predators. Elsewhere, several teams host their home openers.

Divisional rivals faceoff in Washington with the Jets in town to take the Capitals, in Raleigh where Carolina hosts Tampa Bay and in New Jersey where the Devils host the Flyers. And in what could be the game of the night, Chicago hosts Vladimir Tarasenko and the St. Louis Blues.

With both teams entering the contest with perfect 2-0-0 records, one team will obviously be ending the night still undefeated.

Chicago hasn’t played since competing in back-to-back games this weekend. Over the course of those consecutive games, the club proved that they have a considerable amount of firepower, generating 11 combined goals.

Especially if you’re Nashville general manager David Poile, via the Tennessean:

On Tuesday night, Suter will face his old team for the first time when the Wild host the Predators at Xcel Energy Arena.