David Legwand is sure happy with how things are going so far this year...

In case you missed it, Paul Stastny is very good. The Avalanche centre started the season with a hat trick as Colorado beat the Stars 4-3 in their home opener. The Predators solved Stastny in his second game, shutting out the Avalanche in a 4-0 win, but Stastny rebounded with a vengeance, scoring a goal and four assists in a 6-2 win over the Sharks. If you’re bad at math, let me help you: four goals, four assists, plus-4 rating, and a .667 shooting percentage for his first three games. Stastny scored 28 goals and 50 assists in his rookie season a year ago, and could approach 100 points if he continues this torrid pace.

The Sharks have gotten off to a slow start this year, losing a shootout to the Oilers before beating the Canucks 3-1 in Vancouver. That game featured a pair of goals by Jeremy Roenick – yes, if you missed it, JR is still playing – giving him 497 career goals. Roenick and the Sharks will wrap up their season-opening road trip in Chicago on Wednesday before hosting the Bruins on Saturday. Of course, their road trip pales in comparison to the division rival Anaheim Ducks.

The Ducks kicked off the hockey season on September 29, losing 4-1 to the Los Angeles Kings in London (England, not Ontario). The Ducks won the second game of the “home and home” series in London by beating the Kings 4-1, then returned to the states and lost to the Red Wings in a shootout. Anaheim then lost 4-0 to the Blue Jackets and 5-4 to the Penguins, looking visibly tired in blowing two leads and wearing down in the third period. Wingers Corey Perry (3 goals, 5 points, 17 PIM) and Chris Kunitz (3 goals, 4 points, 2 power play goals) had a decent week, but goalie Ilya Bryzgalov was winless in three games despite a goals against average of 2.94.

The only undefeated teams in the Western Conference (through Sunday’s games) were the Nashville Predators, Edmonton Oilers and Minnesota Wild. Nashville looked dominant, beating the Avalanche 4-0 as mentioned above and beating the Dallas Stars 5-1. Centre David Legwand tallied a hat trick against Dallas and goalie Chris Mason started both games for a goals against average of 0.50 for the season.

The Oilers beat San Jose 3-2 in a shootout and then beat the Flyers 5-3, but they are playing the Red Wings on Monday so their unbeaten record could be in jeopardy. The Wild beat Chicago 1-0 in their home opener Thursday (Niklas Backstrom stopped all 27 shots) and then “erupted” for a 3-2 win over Columbus on Saturday. Winger Brian Rolston had three assists and Minnesota played with a bit more energy after being chastised by coach Jacques Lemaire after their first win.

In the Eastern Conference, the Ottawa Senators have picked up where they left off last year, jumping out to a 4-0-0 start and taking a five-point lead in the Northeast division after playing just four games. The Senators won an overtime game (4-3 over Toronto) and then beat the Leafs 3-2 to complete a home-and-home sweep. Ottawa blanked the Rangers 2-0 and then beat the Devils 4-2. Their hot start has been fueled by seven goals from their stars (four goals from Daniel Alfredsson and three goals from Dany Heatley) and good goaltending from Martin Gerber (1.64 goals against average).

The other undefeated teams in the Eastern Conference might surprise you: the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning. Washington has been doing it with defense, beating the Thrashers 3-1, the Hurricanes 2-0 and the Islanders 2-1. Goalie Olaf Kolzig stopped 30 shots against the Islanders while the Capitals managed just 12 shots against Rick DiPietro. DiPietro obviously didn’t know how to handle one-third of his usual workload and allowed a pair of goals after the Islanders had a 1-0 lead.

The Lightning got off to a fast start, beating the Devils 3-1 behind a pair of goals from Vincent Lecavalier, then downing the Thrashers 5-2 behind two goals each from Vaclav Prospal and Brad Richards. Goalie Johan Holmqvist stopped just 13 shots against Atlanta after stopping 26 of 27 against the Devils. Tampa Bay has a soft schedule in their next five games (Florida twice, Boston, Atlanta, and Washington) and could get off to a red-hot start before the rest of the Southeast division knows what hit them.

In case you do not like all this good news, here is a list of the most surprising “bad” teams through the first week:

1. Buffalo Sabres: 0-2-0 through two games
2. Dallas Stars: 1-2-0 through three games
3. New Jersey Devils: 1-2-0 through three games
4. Vancouver Canucks: 1-1-0 through two games
5. Calgary Flames: 0-1-1 through two games (OK, maybe this is only surprising to me)

Questions and comments may be sent to markhaverty@sportsgrumblings.com