Opening night for the NHL was everything the league could have hoped for. There were some great matchups and the fans appeared to forgive the NHL for their lockout, at least for now.

NBC reported record ratings (source: Sports Business Now) for their opening day coverage that featured a championship banner being lifted (Los Angeles), the league’s best and fiercest rivalry (Pittsburgh at Philadelphia) and great matchups in traditionally strong markets (New York at Boston, Colorado at Minnesota).

Attendance numbers looked good in theory, but we’ll see if those impressive numbers can be maintained. The market will be saturated with hockey over the next six months, and those ticket deals won’t last all season. Sure the league feels bad, but let’s face it, they still want your money.

There were few surprises over the opening weekend as the NHL seemed to pick up exactly where it left off. The Kings laid an egg, hardly surprising given the urban legend of the Stanley Cup hangover. The Detroit Red Wings defense, expected to be porous, was just that against a red-hot St. Louis Blues team.

There were some nice rookie debuts with Florida’s Jonathan Huberdeau recording a thee-point night in his debut. Vladimir Tarasenko scored a pair of nice goals for St. Louis in their opening night rout. Tampa Bay’s Cory Conacher had a goal and an assist in his debut against the Washington Capitals.

The weekend belonged to these three stars though. We’ll see if  these guys have enough gas in the tank to keep it going for the rest of the season, but hats off to this dynamic trio:

3. Jaromir Jagr, RW-Dallas-Though he was held off the scoreboard last night in Minnesota, Jagr introduced himself to the fans in Dallas with a four-point night (2 G 2A) as the Stars bounce Phoenix in overtime 4-3.

2. Teemu Selanne, RW-Anaheim-Another graybeard makes the list as the ageless Finn dropped a pair of goals and two more helpers in the Ducks’ 7-3 rout of Vancouver.

1.  Josh Harding, G-Minnesota-Minnesota’s backup goaltender Harding was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis this summer.  He chose to stay with the Wild instead of pursuing a chance to start elsewhere, or quit the game to battle his potentially debilitating illness. Harding was brilliant on Sunday night, turning aside 24 shots for a 1-0 shutout win over Dallas.