Last Night's Preseason Performers (Sep 27)

The Columbus Blue Jackets appear to mean business in this preseason and their big guns are getting ready to play this year. On Saturday against the Penguins, Ryan Johansen had himself a 3-point night, while Scott Hartnell had a goal and an assist as well. Let's not forget about Bob, as Sergei Bobrovsky had 33 stops for the win in this one.

Phil Kessel is doing quite well with his new team, as he tacked on another goal and assist to his preseason total, increasing his stock for a high pick in the draft next weekend.

In a neutral location game, the Carolina Hurricanes, on the shoulders of a couple goals from Jeff Skinner, picked up a big win against the New York Islanders.

Skinner, an injury prone forward, has to play healthy, if the Hurricanes are going to make any noise or try to stay out of the Eastern Conference basement.  It's kind of a long shot that it will happen, but it is something to consider still.

The Edmonton goaltending situation gets a little bit more interesting as a Summer signing, Anders Nilsson earned a shutout for the Oilers against the Wild in Saskatoon on Saturday.  Connor McDavid chipped in another couple of assists in the game, as the excitement around the number one pick in the Entry Draft continues to roll.

The Boston Bruins are not going to go away, despite some preseason injury concerns and they are preparing to have a bunch more offense with some new-look lines up front. Against the Red Wings on Saturday, David Krejci and David Pastrnak looked like a good tandem, with Krejci picking up a couple of goals. Defenseman Torey Krug also had a goal and an assist, as he is leading the way for the depleted Bruins blueline.  Malcolm Subban did all that he could, making 18 stops for the win, but he was still demoted on Sunday.

Can the New York Rangers continue with their recent success over the last couple year? I would think that Derek Stepan is confident that they could, as he gave one hell of a preseason performance, scoring 2 goals and 2 assists in a 4-3 regulation win.  Scoring the other two goals for the Rangers was defenseman Raphael Diaz, while Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves for the win.  The Rangers look to be in pretty good shape to start the season, thus far, we'll see how the cuts go.

How quickly are the Buffalo Sabres going to turn their fortunes around? How about six goals against the Senators on Saturday, with Tyler Ennis scoring a hat-trick, adding an assist, while Jack Eichel, playing on his line, added a couple of helpers as well.  Zemgus Girgensons went one and one for Buffalo and Chad Johnson made 30 saves for the win, likely taking the back-up job to start the season.

For the Senators, Mark Stone and Clarke MacArthur each had a couple of points in the loss, both making cases for reasonable picks in this year's pool draft.

Not much to talk about here, as the Canadiens beat the Leafs, 1-0, on Saturday night, except for AHL-bound keeper, Mike Condon, making 17 saves for the shutout win.  Condon is well below in the depth chart, looking up towards Dustin Tokarski for the back-up job in Montreal, but a good showing like this, will at least give the Canadiens some confidence, if they ever needed a little more help, due to unforeseen circumstances.

The Dallas Stars have the potential to be a real huge offensive force this season and they gave us all a preview of that offense, beating the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-3, on Saturday.  Tyler Seguin led the way with a 3-point night, while Patrick Sharp, Drew Shore, Esa Lindell, Garrett Smith and Brendan Ranford each had 2 points a piece.  Expect Seguin and Sharp to continue that into the regular season, while there are some question marks about those depth players, a few already having been sent down.

On the other side, Jonathan Drouin scored a beauty and added an assist, as he tries to make a push as a sophomore.

The Chicago Blackhawks are getting close to their final roster and it is a few regulars that helped them to a 3-1 win over their division rivals from St. Louis. Corey Crawford made 20 saves for the win, while Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith each went one and one in the win.

The Blackhawks are only go as far as the core group are going to take them and with this kind of result, they should be okay.

The expected back-up in Anaheim, Anton Khudobin, got the start in San Jose against the Sharks and he made 23 saves to earn a 2-1 win for his side in this preseason.  Khudobin's arrival is going to make for a clear number one situation in the Ducks' crease, as John Gibson should be heading to the AHL to get his reps and his starts.  If the results ring true, that should be a pretty good move by the Ducks, as Gibson is a long-term solution.

Matt Stajan was the big hero for the Calgary Flames, as they defeated the Vancouver Canucks on the coast, 4-3 in overtime. Stajan picked up a trio of assists, leading the way for the club, while Karri Ramo made 40 saves for the win and Brandon Bollig had a couple of goals as well.

Defenseman Ben Hutton had an assist on each of the Canucks' goals in the game, while Jared McCann had a couple of assists, adding a couple of names to the rookie conversation, possibly.