Last Night's Preseason Performers (Sep 23)

The Boston Bruins gave a pretty big whallop to the New York Islanders on Friday night, beating them 6-3 at the TD Garden in Boston.  Picking up the big points for the Bruins in the win were Patrice Bergeron and Rich Peverley, who each scored a goal and added 2 assists.  Also on the board for the blog, Brad Marchand had a goal and an assist and Milan Lucic had a pair of assists, while Tim Thomas played the full game, made 13 saves for the win.  The Bruins are stockpiling their weapons for a championship defense and they could be pool favourites this year.

On the losing side of the ledger, the big name on the scoresheet for the Islanders and that was Dylan Reese, who scored a pair of goals in the 1st period, giving the team a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.  Unfortunately, the Islanders could not hold onto the lead for the win, rather giving up a couple of big periods against.  The Islanders might be a good team to choose from this year, but they sure didn't show it on Friday night.

In a Sabres win against the Maple Leafs, it was only a 2-1 result, which didn't leave a lot of room for offense in this contest.  On the other hand, the Sabres did have their number one goalie in for the entire contest and Ryan Miller made 33 saves in the victory, giving us all the impression that he is ready to go for another long season, which may not feel quite as long with a more expensive team in front of him.

The Hurricanes may have lost a 3-2 decision to the Predators, but the losing side had the only players to hit multiple points on the night.  Alex Ponikarovsky scored a pair of goals on the night, while Eric Staal posted a couple of assists in the loss.  The Hurricanes are going to be a wild card team this season, you might be able to find a couple hidden gems in there somewhere.

The Rangers showed off their offensive gems on Friday night against the Devils, which helped them to a 4-3 win over their division rivals in a preseason outing.  Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik each had a goal and an assist in the win, putting on a show for their fans this season.  If Richards and Gaborik are the real deal, they could be in for an exciting season, especially for us poolies.

The Devils were not short on offense on Friday night either, as their superstar contract, Ilya Kovalchuk, came up big in the loss, with a goal and 2 assists.  Much like the Rangers, the Devils will be relying heavily on their offense this season, to which they have plenty of it.  Also having a good night for Jersey, rookie defenseman Adam Larsson, who continued to make a case for making the team out of camp this year.  Larsson posted a couple of assists in the game.

It was a triumphant return to NHL game action for Jaromir Jagr, who scored a goal and an assist against the Detroit Red Wings in Friday night's preseason action.  Jagr, who signed with the Flyers in the off-season, wants to come back and show that he can still do it in the best league in the world.  Also picking up a goal and an assist in the 3-2 vietory, rookie forward Matt Read, an NCAA grad who signed an entry-level deal in March.

The Lightning played host to the Panthers on Friday night and gave them a 5-2 spanking in preseason action.  Ryan Shannon led the way, scoring a pair of goals, while defenseman Pavel Kubina had a couple of assists in the game.  The Lightning had a few more of the big guns in the line-up on Friday, but the ice-time across the board was well spread out, trying to give looks to a lot of bubble players in the process.

In the loss, the Panthers heard an argument from young defenseman Colby Robak, who has been in the system for a little while now.  Robak assisted on both Panthers goals, trying to lead a failed comeback in the 3rd period.  Robak will be in tough, with a veteran six already really spoken for and some younger competition for the last spot that is just a touch better than him.  If Robak is to crack this team, he'll have to beat out one of the veterans to get there.

The Montreal Canadiens rallied from being down 3-0 midway through the 2nd period to tie the game late and win it 4-3 in the shootout.  Leading the comeback, Max Pacioretty, who scored a pair of goals, Scott Gomez, who had a goal and an assist and newcomer Erik Cole, who had a pair of assists.  The Canadiens will be pleased with this effort and with the names on the scoresheet, as they will be counting on these three for some more offense this season.

Helping the Senators out to that lead early on was Zack Smith, who score the two 1st period goals.  Smith has a pretty good shot at making the club out of training camp and scoring a couple of early goals will definitely help his cause.  One of the goals was also shorthanded, giving the coaching staff plenty to mull over when it comes to his status.

Corey Crawford played all 60 minutes for Chicago on Friday night, making 24 saves in a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals.  Also chipping in on the scoresheet was Viktor Stalberg, who scored a pair of goals, Brandon Saad, who had a goal and an assist, and Jonathan Toews, who had a couple of assists.  Saad, a 2011 2nd round pick, has been very impressive in Blackhawks camp in September, turning some heads during the rookie camp and now in preseason play.  If he can make it through the next set of cuts, we'll start to talk projections.

The Wild were able to show off their new toy in their preseason game against the Blue Jackets on Friday night, as Dany Heatley dressed for the first time in game action. Heatley scored a pair of goals and added an assist for a 3-point night, trying to sway the critics belief back tot he Wild's favour, in terms of who won the deal between them and the Sharks.  Feeding Heatley and company all night was Mikko Koivu, who finished with 3 assists, while Devin Setoguchi had a goal and an assist and Marek Zidlicky had a pair of assists.  There are still plenty of questions as to whether or not the Wild will be offensive enough to win this year and this game goes a long way to help answer those questions.  Josh Harding also made 31 saves in the 4-3 overtime win, a great return for him as well.

On the Blue Jackets side, Fedor Tyutin led the way in the loss, scoring a goal and adding a pair of assists.  The veteran Russian defender was in on all three Jackets goals, which is a positive sign going forward for the club.  Also, the team's biggest acquisition in the off-season, Jeff Carter, he also picked up a pair of assists to get a mention in this post this morning.

Thomas Greiss made another full appearance for the Sharks on Friday night, with their goaltending issues, he'll be getting a lot of ice time.  He made 13 saves for the victory against the Ducks, as San Jose won 5-1.  Defenseman Mike Moore led the way for the Sharks with 3 assists, while both Joe Pavelski and Michal Handzus each had a pair of assists as well in the win.  Otherwise, it looked to be a well spread out evening for San Jose, who overpowered a Ducks team that even had their big three in the line-up, for limited minutes.