Early NHL season throwing a few knuckle pucks

That is it. Pack your bags and move to Mexico, where hockey does not even flash on the radar screen. Perpetual "rebuilding teams" Minnesota Wild and Tampa Bay Lightning are fighting for the lead in the standings going into the second month of the NHL season, and no one is quite sure what to make of it.

On top of that, the St. Louis Blues are well on their way to a winning season despite the fact that a goalie on that team is safer in a war zone than in St. Louis. The Blues have had five different goalies on their roster, each one falling like a cheap pi?±ata game after game. With the addition of free agent Tom Barrasso last week, the Blues could be up to six goalies not just in a single season, but in the matter of a few weeks.

Even with the quick turnaround of net minders, the Blues managed to stretch their winning streak to eight games Sunday against the New York Rangers, with Fred Braitwaithe coming off of an injured groin to make 23 saves.

At 8-1-1 for the season, the Blues are busy denying rumors that management sold their souls for additions to the wins column. Of course, averaging four goals a game does not hurt either. Doug Weight leads the way with nine points in the last five games.

The big question now is what the Blues are going to do with the glut of goalies once they start coming off injury, with Barrasso duking it out with young starter Brent Johnson and 37-year-old veteran Brathwaite for who ends up in the press box.

But hockey fans should worry too much yet about the topsy-turvey world that is this year's season, as the Rangers, always dependable losers, look to continue their six year streak of not making the playoffs. It's not even that the Rangers are playing that badly, but with a payroll which tops the Gross Domestic Products of some third world countries after another vigorous dip into the free agent pool this summer, New York fans expect a more than their 4-5-2 Rangers.

Helping the Rangers drop Sunday's game against the Blues was a few more poor penalties by Eric Lindros, who was benched for the end of the game after the Blues scored the game winning goal while Lindros was sitting in the penalty box.

Canadian teams are hurting early too. Not just one or two, but all six have struggled out the gate as fan's high hopes from the preseason have been dashed in quick fashion. In fact, Toronto Maple Leaf players are keeping their heads down in the streets these days, as they look for their second win from a seven game homestand, the last three which saw them being booed by the fans.

Original six opponents Montreal Canadiens tore the Leafs apart Saturday, 5-2, as the Leafs sit with three wins in twelve games. Reborn Canadiens veteran goalie Jeff Hackett made 30 saves in the game, as Veniza and Hart trophy winner Jose Theodore continues to struggle at the start of the season. Hackett sat out most of last season with a broken hand.

The NHL's crackdown on interference in the neutral zone seems to be helping some teams though. Mario Lemieux's Pittsburgh Penguins, after missing the playoffs last year for the first time since 1989, are on a tear at 7-2-2. Of Pittsburgh's 40 goals so far this season, 27 of them involved Lemieux, putting him back on the two points per game pace he had before his retirement in 1997. And it goes from there. Pittsburgh's big three _ Lemieux, Alexei Kovalev, and Alexsey Morozov _ have combined for 53 points through the first ten games.

Pittsburgh shutdown the unbelievably red hot Lightning this weekend with a 5-3 victory, thanks largely to Lemieux setting up all three power play goals for the Penguins.

Lemieux is feeling so good these days he has even been playing in back to back games, something he said he originally wasn't going to do because of his own bad back. But at this rate, it is no wonder he is pushing for more scoring in the league, arguing for bigger nets and smaller pads as he pushes towards the top five of all time power play goal scorers.