Last Night's Preseason Action (Sep 21)

The Blue Jackets continued to roll in the preseason, which normally means a hill of beans in this league, but it is good to see prospects flourish, despite the situation. Columbus beat Washington 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday night, led by Maksim Mayorov and David Savard, who each had a goal and an assist in the win.  This is Mayorov's second appearance on the blog over the last couple days, which is a sign.  Savard is in the same boat as Mayorov, struggling to crack the line-up, but is getting his shot.

In the loss, a couple of new faces in the Capitals line-up this year provided some offense in the loss to Columbus, as both Jeff Halpern and Roman Hamrlik each had a goal and an assist in the contest. Halpern returned from a stint away on other teams, while Hamrlik was a free agent signing in the Summer to add some depth on the blueline.  Although both are likely to be in the opening night line-up, I expect Hamrlik to be the only real pool worthy player of the two.

It didn't look like Evgeni Malkin missed much of a beat in this preseason debut, the first time in game action since he had a major knee injury last season against Buffalo. Malkin had a gorgeous goal and added an assist for a 2-point night in a 3-2 win over the Red Wings on Wednesday. Seeing what he could do out there gave him a boost in my projections, if only slightly, which makes him into a good candidate for a 1st round pick in the draft.

The Red Wings have a dangerous Russian of their own and he quietly went about his business, like he usually does and potted a couple of points in the loss to Pittsburgh. Pavel Datsyuk had a couple of assists on the only two Detroit goals, as he silently racks up some preseason points in preparation for the same old show in the regular season.

Rookie Matt Frattin scored a pair of goals, including an empty-netter, and Colby Armstrong had a pair of assists to help lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers, who they had played on back-to-back nights.  Frattin, a free agent signing at the end of last season, is looking to make an impression over a coaching staff that has some holes to fill before the season starts, but competition is fierce and it may take another couple of goals to win someone over.

The St. Louis Blues beat up on the Tampa Bay Lightning in Orlando on Wednesday night, but the recap was pretty rough, I could only find that Chris Stewart had a goal and 2 assists in a 4-3 win.  Stewart, who was traded to St. Louis at the trade deadline from the Avalanche, will try to carve out a new niche with his new club, which may work out for him, as the Blues are a good rough and tumble team that likes to muck it out in front of the net.

The Ottawa Senators were up to the task of looking up at the defending Cup champs, beating them 2-1 in overtime on Wednesday night.  Nick Foligno and Brian Lee led the way with assists on each of the two Senators goals, including the overtime winner from rookie centre Mika Zibanejad.  Foligno and Lee are now a couple of the old faces on the team that will have to be pillars of strength in Ottawa, especially in a year of so much uncertainty.

In Montreal, the Buffalo Sabres played a very solid game with their top goaltending tandem of Ryan Miller and Jhonas Enroth splitting time in a 3-1 win over the Canadiens.  Offensively, the charge was led by free agent signing Christian Ehrhoff, who finished with a goal and an assist in the win, showing that he should be able to transfer his offensive skills easily from Vancouver to Buffalo.

The visiting San Jose Sharks gave a poor housewarming gift to their hosts, the Anaheim Ducks, on Wednesday night, handing them a 6-1 drubbing in preseason action. Thomas Greiss made 19 saves in 60 minutes worth of work for the win, while offensively, the Sharks were led by Logan Couture, who had a pair of goals.  Sean Sullivan and Jason Demers each had a goal and an assist, while Ryane Clowe and Justin Braun each had a pair of assists.  The Sharks are going to be a dangerous team this year, there will be lots of points from them, so make sure you get on that feeding frenzy.

The Los Angeles Kings and Phoenix Coyotes had a couple of split squad games on Wednesday night, but not a great deal of offense or condensed offense came from it. In Phoenix, the Kings won 3-2, with Trevor Lewis assisting on all three Kings goals and Tyler Toffoli having a goal and an assist in the win. In Los Angeles, it was a 2-1 shootout victory for the Coyotes, which didn't bear much fruit for the blog post.  The Kings and Coyotes match-up could be a tight one this season, which could be very interesting to watch near the end of the season.