Last Night's Preseason Notable Players (Sep 21)

In the last couple seasons, I've enjoyed looking at players who have had multiple-point nights in the preseason, especially before my draft, which now goes in less than a week. Since last night was the start of the preseason schedule, I thought this morning would be the perfect time to start up this quick little recap again.

The Blue Jackets gave a sound beating to the Thrashers it looks like last night. It was a 5-2 final for the Jackets and leading the way in the scoring department in this one was Tim Sestito, who had a goal and 2 assists.  Other multiple-point players in the game included Mike Blunden (goal & assist), Nate Guenin (2 assists) and Kyle Wilson (2 assists).

Even though the Thrashers only scored two goals in the loss to Columbus, Bryan Little and Fredrik Pettersson were good enough to hit the blog with a goal and an assist each in the game.  Little is looking for that bounce back season, while Pettersson has been a constant name out of training camp and has a great shot of making the team, by the sounds of it.

The Panthers ripped the Hurricanes to shreds in a 4-1 victory to open up their preseason campaign. The Cats were led by their 2010 1st round pick (3rd overall) Erik Gudbranson, who scored a goal and an assist from the blueline.  I haven't heard a great deal of buzz out of Panthers camp, but its definitely a good sign when you start getting offense from the back end early.  Evgeny Dadonov and Joe Callahan each potted a couple of assists each in the win as well.

It would take the shootout for the Devils to lose on Tuesday night, but in the loss, they had some more impressive players on the scoresheet.  Two defensemen led the way for the Devils, Henrik Tallinder (2 assists) and Alexander Urbom (2 assists) have been paired together through camp and it looks like the early chemistry is paying off, as they picked up some early points in this preseason together.

The first 60-minute shutout has already been posted in this preseason and it belongs to the Senators' Robin Lehner, who stopped 24 shots for the goose egg.  You don't normally expect these shutouts early in the preseason, with a lot of split games between keepers, but I believe the back-up for the game was ill and Lehner got the whole thing.  Chris Neil had a good night on the scoresheet, scoring a goal and adding 2 assists, and camp-hopeful Corey Locke also picked up a goal and an assist.

The Avalanche got a leg up on the St. Louis Blues in Jaroslav Halak's debut for the club, beating them 3-1 on Tuesday night.  Picking up a pair of assists each in the game were T.J. Galiardi and Mark Olver, both assisting on the same goals, setting up Kevin Shattenkirk and David Jones in the win.  Should be expecting some big things from Galiardi again this year and this makes for a good start.

The Lightning got the best of the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night, beating them 4-2 in their first preseason action. Adam Hall led the way with a pair of goals, while Dana Tyrell and Scott Jackson each tallied a pair of assists in the win.  Hall is on the Lightning's Summer roster and should be a good fit for the team come October, while both Tyrell and Jackson are still fighting for those few spots remaining on the opening night line-up.

The Flames got the better of the Canucks in both of their split-squad games, both in Calgary and in Vancouver. In Calgary, both Alex Tanguay and Robyn Regehr each had a couple of assists in the 3-2 victory, while in Vancouver, Staffan Kronwall, Niklas Hagman and Rene Bourque each had a goal and an assist and Mitch Wahl had a pair of assists.  The Flames had all of their big guns out last night, likely to pick up some early chemistry and it seemed to work well in their favour.

Finally, the Coyotes took it to the Ducks in a big 2nd period, beating their Pacific Division rivals 4-1 in their preseason opener.  Kyle Turris had a goal and an assist, Sami Lepisto had a pair of assists and Jason LaBarbera was in net for the whole 60 minutes, gaining some notoriety in the preseason already.   Both Lepisto and LaBarbera should have jobs with the club already, while Turris is going to make a big push and establish himself as the player that was drafted 3rd overall in 2007.