Last Night's Preseason Action (Sep 22)

In the early game, the Pittsburgh Penguins were in Chicago to take on the Blackhawks, showing off their usual third centre, Jordan Staal, and he didn't disappoint in his preseason appearance.  With Crosby still without contact and Malkin in the night before, it was Staal's turn to put on a show and he did a good job potting a couple of goals and playing well from end to end.  Tyler Kennedy was the big name in the show, however, scoring a goal and adding 2 assists for a 3-point night, his time may have finally come.

The Philadelphia Flyers ended up losing 4-3 in a shootout to the Detroit Red Wings in London, Ontario on Thursday night, but the Flyers were the team with the only player with multiple points in the game, as James Van Riemsdyk scored a goal and added a pair of assists in the loss. Van Riemsdyk is starting to come around into his own and has plenty of potential for points in a revamped Flyers line-up this season.

The Dallas Stars flexed a little bit more offensive muscle against the Colorado Avalanche in preseason action on Thursday night, beating their Northwest Division rival 5-2 at home.  Steve Ott was the offensive star for the club, scoring a goal and 2 assists in the win, followed closely by Colton Sceviour, who had a couple of goals, Loui Eriksson, who had a goal and an assist and Jake Dowell and Tomas Vincour, who each had a pair of assists.  The Stars will need quite a bit of this kind of offense when the season starts, because they'll be in tough against their Pacific Division opponents.

In the loss, the Avalanche had a couple of young bright spots, as rookies Brad Malone and Tyson Barrie each had a goal and an assist in the game.  Malone, who signed his entry-level deal in April, has been impressing a lot of the Avalanche writers of late and is believed to have a pretty good shot at cracking the line-up this year.  Barrie, on the other hand, would have had a walk on the roster, if the Avalanche didn't stock up their blueline through free agency in the Summer.  Now, the trek up to the big club is much harder, but with games like these, he gives himself a shot.