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Two triples for Marte
Ketel Marte, playing in the first postseason game of his major-league career, hit two triples for the Diamondbacks in the National League Wild Card game. Only two other players in major-league history hit two triples in their first career postseason game. Tommy Leach did it for Pittsburgh in the very first postseason game in major-league history, Game 1 of the 1903 World Series against Boston. Dutch Ruether did it for the Reds against the White Sox in Game 1 of the 1919 Fall Classic. Archie Bradley’s big hit
Archie Bradley’s two-run triple in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the Diamondbacks a three-run lead. Bradley became the third relief pitcher in major-league history to hit a triple or a home run in a postseason game. Rosy Ryan of the Giants hit a home run in Game 3 of the 1924 World Series against the Senators and Travis Wood of the Cubs hit a home run in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Giants in 2016. Only three other relievers drove in two or more runs in a postseason game. Rosy Ryan of the Giants in the 1924 World Series, Johnny Sain of the Yankees in the 1953 World Series and Mike Jackson of the Reds in the 1995 NLDS. Bradley became the eleventh player in major-league history whose first career extra-base hit in the major leagues came in a postseason game. The last to do it was Avisail Garcia for the Tigers in 2012. The DBacks triple their pleasure
The Diamondbacks rapped out four triples in their Wild Card game win over the Rockies. It was the third time in major-league history that a team recorded four triples in a postseason game. The other two came in the first postseason series in major-league history. Back in 1903, the year that the American League and National League champions first met in a World Series, the Boston Americans (now the Red Sox) had a pair of five-triple games, in Games 5 and 7 of that best-of-nine series against Pittsburgh, a series that lasted eight games. As it happened, Cy Young won both of those games for Boston, and contributed a triple himself in Game 5! Different uniform, same Marleau
Patrick Marleau, making his debut for the Maple Leafs, scored a pair of goals as Toronto opened the season with a 7–2 victory against the Jets in Winnipeg. Marleau scored 508 goals while playing the first 19 seasons of his NHL career with the San Jose Sharks before signing with the Leafs as a free agent. He’s the first player ever to score the first 500-plus goals of his NHL career with his original team, then score two goals the first time he played for a different NHL club. Two players scored one goal in a debut for their second NHL team after racking up 500 or more goals with their original club: Wayne Gretzky in his first game with the Kings (after scoring 583 goals for the Oilers) and Mike Modano in his debut for the Red Wings (after scoring 557 goals for the Stars). Another hot start for Matthews
Auston Matthews tallied three points in the Maple Leafs’ season-opening win against the Jets (one goal, two assists), after scoring all four goals for Toronto while making his NHL debut in the Leafs’ opener a year ago. Matthews is the fourth player in Toronto franchise history to produce at least three points in the team’s first game in each of two consecutive seasons. The other players to do that are Babe Dye (1921–22 and 1922–23), Rick Vaive (1980–81 and 1981–82) and Miroslav Frycer (1986–87 and 1987–88). Pietrangelo nets two
Alex Pietrangelo’s second goal of the game earned the St. Louis Blues a 5-4 overtime win in their season opener against the Penguins in Pittsburgh. He’s the first defenseman in Blues history to score more than one goal in the team’s first game of a season, and the second d-man to score an overtime goal for the Blues in a season opener. Carlo Colaiacovo scored the winner when St. Louis began the 2010–11 season with a 2–1 overtime victory against the Flyers. Since 1983–84, when the NHL introduced the five-minute overtime format for regular-season games, the only defenseman besides Pietrangelo to score twice in a season opener, including an overtime goal, was Jason Garrison for the Lightning versus the Flyers on Oct. 8, 2015.
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