More than a few coaches turned to their backup goaltender in a jam-packed night on the NHL calendar.

Eight second-stringers got the call Saturday night and came away with varying degrees of success. Here's our assessment of their performances, from the most alarming to the most promising.

Time to panic

Antti Niemi

The Pittsburgh Penguins netminder struggled in two earlier appearances this season, lasting just nine minutes in his first contest and then allowing five goals to the Tampa Bay Lightning in his second start a week later.

Niemi didn't fare any better in a rematch against the Lightning on Saturday. He gave up seven goals, including four on the first 14 shots. Through three games as a Penguin, it looks like more of the same from Niemi, who was bought out by the Dallas Stars in the offseason after he posted a dreadful .892 save percentage a year ago.

Louis Domingue

Following a leg injury to newcomer Antti Raanta, the Coyotes have been forced to throw Domingue into the deep end, with ugly results.

The Arizona netminder has struggled, leaving the Coyotes - winless through eight games - calling on 21-year-old AHL farmhand Adin Hill. Domingue's allowed 19 goals in five contests (three starts), including Saturday's loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Cause for concern

Anton Khudobin

With starter Tuukka Rask shelved with a concussion, Khudobin is the go-to goalie in Boston for the immediate future.

The early returns came up in favor of the Bruins, as he turned aside 26 shots while backstopping Boston to a 6-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. But the next game wasn't as impressive - he and the Bruins surrendered a 4-1 lead over the Buffalo Sabres before losing in overtime.

Philipp Grubauer

The Capitals have an intriguing up-and-coming goaltender in Grubauer, but the 25-year-old has failed to find a win in the early season.

Through three contests - including Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers - Grubauer's earned a .848 save percentage, a stark contrast to the .926 he posted a year ago. He needs to improve in order for the Capitals to comfortably grant Braden Holtby the occasional night off.

Time will tell

Alex Stalock

Stalock signed with the Wild after a five-year run in San Jose, but hasn't seen much action at the big-league level. He's appeared in just four NHL games over the past two seasons, and spent much of last season in the minors.

He needs a larger body of work with Minnesota for the team and its fans to accurately evaluate him. The 30-year-old appeared in a career-high 24 games with the Sharks in 2013-14 and came away with 12 wins and a .932 save percentage.

Malcolm Subban

The Golden Knights saw something in Subban when they claimed the budding netminder on waivers from the Bruins. After he arrived in Las Vegas, the team quickly made room for him by shipping former backup Calvin Pickard to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Subban struggled when called upon by the Bruins, but the 23-year-old got the last laugh with his new club. He picked up his first win as a Golden Knight - and first NHL win overall - with a 3-1 victory over Boston. Subban added his second career win two nights later against the Sabres.

One bad night

Juuse Saros

Every goalie is due for a bad game eventually, and unfortunately for Saros, it was his turn Saturday. The Nashville Predators netminder allowed three goals on 14 shots in a loss to the New York Rangers.

After two games, the 22-year-old remains in search of his first win on the season. But the victories should soon follow - the Predators see plenty of potential in him, and that's easy to understand considering the Finnish goaltender posted a winning record alongside a .923 save percentage last season. It won't be long before he's entrusted with more games as Nashville puts a succession plan in place for starter Pekka Rinne.

Aaron Dell

Calling on Dell is typically a safe bet for the Sharks, but that wasn't the case Saturday, as they were sunk by the New York Islanders. Dell allowed four goals on 22 shots and was handed his second loss of the season.

He appeared in 20 games with the Sharks in 2016-17, his first NHL campaign after spending the previous four seasons in the minors, and posted an 11-6-1 record that's now earned him an extended look as the Sharks' second-stringer.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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Saturday is always an adventure around the NHL, and this 12-game slate was no exception.

Three teams in particular stepped up in a big way, letting the rest of the league know it's time to take them seriously.

Kings are back

With a 6-4 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Los Angeles Kings remain the lone team without a single loss in regulation.

After missing the playoffs last season, the Kings have gone 6-0-1 under new head coach John Stevens.

As a bonus, Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar appear committed to wiping away their poor personal performances from a year ago, as evidenced by their stat lines through seven games.

Not to be outdone, Jonathan Quick is riding a .938 save percentage after being sidelined by injury for most of last season.

Stop doubting the Senators

The Toronto Maple Leafs entered the latest installment of the Battle of Ontario as a burgeoning powerhouse, having averaged almost five goals per game to date.

It was the pesky Ottawa Senators who came out on top Saturday, however, limiting Toronto to a season-low three goals while pouring it on with six of their own.

Those who take deeper dives into advanced stats tend to cast doubt on Ottawa, especially considering the Senators ranked 31st in Corsi For in five-on-five play (43.39) heading into the game, according to Corsica. This, to be sure, is not generally seen as a recipe for success.

To the Sens' credit, though, they keep winning, and they have their all-world defenseman back in the fold to boot.

Lightning a force to be reckoned with

Much like the Kings, the Tampa Bay Lightning were hoping to bounce back after missing the 2017 postseason, and they're proving to be up to the challenge.

Tampa hosted the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins and came out on top 7-1. It helps that Antti Niemi is well below average in net, but Tampa Bay was the better team from start to finish.

(Courtesy: HockeyStats.ca)

All eyes have been on Nikita Kucherov's blistering streak, but don't let that overshadow the magic of Steven Stamkos.

This could finally be the year for this bunch, health permitting.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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Derick Brassard and Mark Stone each had two goals and an assist, Erik Karlsson had three assists and the Ottawa Senators beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 on Saturday night.

Nate Thompson and Ryan Dzingel also scored for the Senators, who have earned points in seven of their eight games (4-1-3) and won at home for the first time after coming in 0-3-1. Craig Anderson stopped 28 shots in his seventh start of the season.

James van Riemsdyk, Auston Matthews and William Nylander scored for the Leafs, and Frederik Andersen made 29 saves. Toronto had won its first three road games.

Trailing 3-0 entering the final period, the Leafs struck quickly with goals from van Riemsdyk and Matthews 2 1/2 minutes apart to pull within one at 8:34. However, Stone gave the Senators a two-goal cushion again 7 seven seconds later.

Nylander scored on the power play with 7:08 left, pulling the Leafs within one again but they got no closer. Brassard scored with 3 1/2 minutes left and Stone added an empty netter with 39 seconds to go.

Ottawa took its 3-0 lead with one in the first and two in the second.

Thompson got his first as a Senator when he smacked in a rebound at 12:01 of the first period as Andersen had his back to the puck and his head in the net following a mass scramble in front of the goal.

Dzingel increased the lead to 2-0 when he tipped Karlsson's point shot off the glove of Andersen and in with 5:40 remaining in the second.

The Senators kept pressing and made it a 3-0 game with just 12 seconds to play in the period when Brassard took a cross-ice pass from Bobby Ryan off his skates and then beat Andersen on the stick side.

Notes: Mark Borowiecki was a scratch for the Senators while Eric Fehr, Josh Lewo and Calle Rosen were scratches for the Leafs. ... Anderson became the first goaltender to appear in 300 games with Ottawa.

UP NEXT

Maple Leafs: Host Los Angeles on Monday night.

Senators: Host Los Angeles on Tuesday night in the fourth game of a five-game homestand.

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The Ottawa Senators earned the win Saturday night, but they lost forward Bobby Ryan in the procces.

Ottawa beat the Leafs by a convincing score of 6-3, but Ryan will be lost for about a month with a fractured digit after taking a shot off his right index finger.

Here is the play when Ryan was hit with the shot:

According to Sportsnet's Kyle Bukauskas, Ryan has broken bones in his hands multiple times over the past few years, which includes breaking the same right index finger twice. The most recent time coming last season when he missed 11 games for the same injury.

After tonight's contest, Ryan has five points to his credit this season.

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While the rest of the hockey world salivates over Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov's blistering streak - 10 goals in nine games - to begin the season, Steven Stamkos is quietly off to one of the best starts of his career.

Specifically, it's No. 91's hottest season-opening performance since he notched 19 points in the first nine games of the 2010-11 campaign.

The Lightning captain has managed to fly slightly under the radar with 18 points while his linemate, Kucherov, has set the league ablaze.

Stamkos has three goals and 15 assists, while Kucherov has collected 10 goals and six assists.

After Saturday night's 7-1 shellacking of the reigning Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins, Stamkos and Kucherov have already racked up solid offensive numbers for October with another 10 days left in the month. Kucherov had two goals and one assist while Stamkos chipped in with four points.

The twosome has been so hot that making history is becoming a nightly occurrence. Stamkos moved into first on the Lightning's all-time power-play goals list Saturday thanks to his 113th career tally with the man advantage, passing Vincent Lecavalier.

A fully healthy Stamkos had many preseason prognosticators tabbing the Lightning to take a big step forward after missing the playoffs last season for the first time since 2013.

With Kucherov and Stamkos firing on all cylinders, it seems foolish to expect Tampa Bay to finish outside of the top five spots in the East, especially if opponents continue to focus on Kucherov and allow the center to find open space.

The dangerous duo are in action next when the Lightning take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have added a center.

The club acquired Riley Sheahan and a fifth-round pick in 2018 from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for forward Scott Wilson and a 2018 third-round selection, the Penguins announced Saturday.

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For most NHL goalies, allowing four goals to the same player in a single game is usually a memory they want to quickly erase.

However, for Ottawa Senators goalie Craig Anderson, that wasn't the case. After Toronto Maple Leafs centerman Auston Matthews' four-goal output, Anderson kept the stick he used that game, and later asked for the 20-year-old to sign it.

"I just asked one of the guys (to get it autographed)," Anderson said, according to Bruce Garrioch of Post Media. "I had the stick lying around and I thought, 'Maybe I should get it signed,' and, the next time (the Leafs) were in town, he signed it for me."

The insignia Matthews chose for the paddle was almost as sharp as his lightning-quick snapshot.

"Thanks ‘Four’ making my first game memorable," Matthews penned.

Usually, when a player just entering the league takes a jab at a longstanding veteran like Anderson, even if it's light-hearted, there are repercussions.

Again, not Anderson's style.

"Yeah, it’s funny. It’ll be up on my wall and it’ll be a good story for the grand kids one day," Anderson said Friday. "It was creative. I guess it’s kind of expected of a guy that’s that creative on the ice to be that creative intelligently.

" ... It seems like he’s got a very creative personality. It shows with the way he plays and it shows with the way he signed it."

Matthews may have some creativity off the ice, but he's certainly got plenty when he's on it. The Arizona native has 10 points in 7 games and will look to continue his hot streak against Anderson and the Senators when they resume the Battle of Ontario tonight in Ottawa.

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The Montreal Canadiens have not been able to stop the bleeding that is their disastrous start to the 2017-18 season.

On Friday, the club dropped their seventh straight game, this time a 6-2 defeat to the Anaheim Ducks. Head coach Claude Julien called his club's performance "unacceptable," but to their defense, it isn't just the players who have been underperforming.

The fact is, this team is not built to be elite and that responsibility belongs to general manager Marc Bergevin and his sidekicks. Bergevin has made some questionable decisions, not just this season, but also going back a couple of years, and it has all culminated to spark the Canadiens' early 1-6-1 record.

The infamous Subban trade

Whether P.K. Subban was dealt due to his antics off the ice or his relationship with then-coach Michel Therrien, the Canadiens are worse for it.

We are in just the second year of the deal and already it is catching up with the club. Shea Weber doesn't have near the same foot-speed as Subban, while the Nashville Predators star has outperformed Weber offensively, tallying a points-per-game average of 0.64 over 73 regular-season games compared to Weber's 0.51 mark.

The trade came after a 2016 season in which the Canadiens missed the postseason due almost solely to the injury to Carey Price that saw him miss the final 70 games of the season. If it was indeed a reaction to missing the playoffs, it was an extremely poor calculation.

Bizarre 2017 trade deadline

Despite the Subban trade, the Canadiens still managed to recapture the Atlantic Division and subsequent playoff berth due largely to the return of Price last season.

However, before the postseason began, Bergevin decided to load up at the deadline - as most contending teams do. The problem: he didn't load up on talent.

Instead, he decided to get slower by adding size. He acquired defensemen Andreas Martinsen, Jordie Benn, and forward Dwight King. The team largely dealt draft picks, except in the case for Martinsen, who was acquired for forward Sven Andrighetto, who at the time looked to be one of the team's most exciting prospects.

The result was a first-round exit at the hands of the New York Rangers. To add insult to injury, Andrighetto has tallied three goals and six points in eight games with the Colorado Avalanche this season - which bests everyone in the Canadiens lineup so far.

Allowing Radulov, Markov to walk

Last season, the Canadiens went on a limb bringing in Alexander Radulov, but after the 31-year-old finished second in team scoring with 18 goals and 54 points, it seemed like the club had found a new offensive weapon.

Once Radulov became an unrestricted free agent, though, Bergevin botched the chance to bring him back. Radulov inked a five-year, $31.25-million contract with the Dallas Stars. Bergevin later offered the same deal, but it was too late.

That was followed up with another failed negotiation with long-time defenseman, Andrei Markov. The veteran signed in the KHL, where he currently sits with four goals and 15 points in 22 games with Ak-Bars Kazan.

To make it all worse, the Canadiens now sit comfortably with the third-most cap space in the NHL (just under $9.25 million), money that could have been used to retain these two.

Jonathan Drouin deal

The Jonathan Drouin deal is a little more interesting.

There is no debating the fact he is a great talent - something the team longs for, especially with the aforementioned departure of Radulov. However, the fact the team had to give up their top prospect hurts.

Mikhail Sergachev was the price to pay and as we sit now, it's interesting to ponder what the Canadiens might look like with his speed and skill on the back end.

Drouin does lead the Canadiens with five points through eight games, but Sergachev also leads all Tampa Bay Lightning defenders with six points in eight games. The sample size to compare each is extremely small, but with the Canadiens' poor defense among their biggest issues at the moment, it's hard not to consider this trade.

Defensive blunders

Nowhere else is Bergevin's ineptitude clear than how he tried to fill out his defensive core this offseason.

The team addressed the club's defense by signing Karl Alzner to a hefty, five-year, $23-million deal, while also inking Joe Morrow and Mark Streit to cheap one-year deals.

It took just two games before the Canadiens decided to place Streit on waivers and buyout his contract. Meanwhile, Morrow has been a non-factor while playing in just three games, averaging 11:35 minutes of ice time a night.

The moves have left the club with a defensive corps that is slow and underskilled. They can be thankful that Victor Mete has come out of nowhere to make an instant impact, but a rookie defender can only do so much.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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Ahead of Saturday's jam-packed NHL slate, theScore's Flip Livingstone predicts the winners for all 12 games.

Saturdays in the NHL. Time to gather 'round the TV, crack a few wobbly pops, and make some hockey picks. Here's a quick look at all 12 games and theScore's pick for each one:

Gold Pick

Chicago Blackhawks (4-2-2) @ Arizona Coyotes (0-6-1)

The Blackhawks look to be recapturing their Cup-winning form to start the year, and that's bad news for the hapless Coyotes. Factor in that Chicago has won four straight in the desert and holds an 8-1-1 record in its last 10 versus Arizona overall, and the Blackhawks are a slam dunk gold pick.

Silver Pick

Buffalo Sabres (1-5-2) @ Boston Bruins (3-3-0)

Two things matter in this matchup: One, the Sabres are a poor road team and have looked awful out of the gate, losing seven of their last eight away from home. Two, they also struggle against the Bruins, going winless in their last five contests against Boston.

Bronze Pick

Nashville Predators (4-2-1) @ NY Rangers (1-5-2)

It may be the first game of the day, but it's also an ideal scenario for the Preds, as these two teams are trending in opposite directions. Nashville is coming off two convincing wins, while New York's lost two close decisions, and has only one win on the year.

Remaining matchups

Edmonton Oilers (2-4-0) @ Philadelphia Flyers (4-3-0)

The Oilers are starting to show signs of life coming off their second win, while the Flyers are firing blanks. Lean Edmonton in what should be a high-scoring, run-and-gun affair.

Toronto Maple Leafs (6-1-0) @ Ottawa Senators (3-1-3)

This is a tight one to call, as both teams have started the season strong. However, Auston Matthews and the high-flying Leafs are far too hot right now to bet against, so look for them to take this contest in a close one-goal game.

Pittsburgh Penguins (5-2-1) @ Tampa Bay Lightning (6-1-1)

Pittsburgh played Friday night against the Panthers and struggled out of the gate, and that was with No. 1 netminder Matt Murray between the pipes. Saturday should be Antti Niemi's turn to start, which is never a fun night for Pens fans. Take Tampa for the win.

San Jose Sharks (3-3-0) @ NY Islanders (3-3-1)

Avoid betting on this snoozer altogether. But if you must, the Islanders have looked marginally better and the Sharks have struggled away from the tank, losing seven of their last 10 road games.

LA Kings (5-0-1) @ Columbus Blue Jackets (5-2-0)

Two of the hottest teams to start the season will go toe to toe Saturday night, and picking the winner is far from a lock. This is a classic coin flip, but seeing as the Kings just signed Brooks Laich (!?) to fill Jeff Carter's roster spot, the Jackets get the nod in this one.

Minnesota Wild (1-2-2) @ Calgary Flames (4-3-0)

The Wild have only one regulation win to their credit this season and have struggled lately at the Saddledome, losing their last two contests in Calgary. This game may lack goals, but that favors the Flames quite nicely.

Florida Panthers (2-4-0) @ Washington Capitals (4-3-1)

Washington and Florida played last night, meaning both should have their backup goalies manning the blue paint, making this game a bit of a sticky wicket to predict. However, the Panthers are winless on the road this season and Alex Ovechkin is lighting the lamp on the regular, so take the Caps to earn the home W.

Carolina Hurricanes (3-1-1) @ Dallas Stars (4-3-0)

The two big winners of the offseason face off for the first time with their revamped lineups. Carolina is riding the hot hand of netminder Scott Darling, and has only one regulation loss. Another coin-flip scenario, but take the Hurricanes in a one-goal game.

St. Louis Blues (6-2-0) @ Vegas Golden Knights (5-1-0)

Vegas has easily been the feel-good story of the 2017-18 campaign, but, realistically, it's the Blues who have been the Western Conference's best team, as they currently sit tops with 12 points. St. Louis keeps rolling against the Knights.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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