Last Night's Preseason Notable Players (Sep 27)

Jonas Gustavsson made 35 saves on Monday night to help the Leafs beat the Sabres 5-4 at home. The Monster played the entire game for the Leafs, giving him his first full start of the season and he did enough to keep the team in it and win it. Nikolai Kulemin and Phil Kessel were the trigger men on the evening, scoring a pair of goals each, while Dion Phaneuf, Clarke MacArthur, Kris Versteeg and Mikhail Grabovski all picked up pairs of assists in the game.  This game recap looks to be the formula that the Leafs will need to use when they try and string wins together in the regular season.

The Sabres may have lost last night's preseason match-up to the Leafs, but they did manage to score four goals and they had it all done by four players as well. Nathan Gerbe had a pair of goals, Drew Stafford had a goal and 2 assists, Jordan Leopold had a goal and an assist, while Derek Roy chimed in with 3 assists.  This doesn't exactly scream scoring balance, but at least there were some players who were motivated enough to keep the Sabres in the game for as long as possible.

Finally... Carey Price was on the right side of a 6-2 scoreline, as the Canadiens beat up on the Panthers on Monday night. Price only had to make 19 saves in the victory, but it was a victory at home nonetheless. Plenty of points and penalty minutes in this one, as it looks like it was a scrappy affair. Mike Cammalleri led the way with a goal and 2 assists in the game, followed closely behind by Lars Eller, who had 3 assists. Tomas Plekanec had a couple of goals and Yannick Weber had a pair of assists to round out the notable players. The Canadiens made a few more cuts after the game, but everyone in this paragraph was safe.

Much like the Sabres above, the same group of players were responsible for the Panthers goals on Monday night and it was a trio of what should be their usual suspects. David Booth and Stephen Weiss each had a goal and an assist, while Dennis Wideman had a pair of assists, which evenly spread out the points for both goals in the game. It may appear that Wideman will be a good fit with the Panthers, which may boost his projections in your list.

Finally, the Predators hosted the Thrashers in some preseason action and it was Nashville coming away on top, 2-1 in the game. The scoring star of the game was Shea Weber, who had a goal and an assist in the victory, the only player to have multiple points. In net, it was the team's number one goalie, Pekka Rinne, making 21 saves for the win and not helping the back-up battle at all... unless the Predators are okay with Rinne making 82 starts this season.