Last Night's Preseason Performers (Sep 29, Draft Day Edition)

The Columbus Blue Jackets got a welcome return back to their lineup as defenseman Zach Werenski made his preseason debut against the Penguins in a good rivalry game on Friday night.  Werenski was one of three Jackets players to register 4 points in a 7-6 barn burner for the home side.  Artemi Panarin and Cam Atkinson were the other two with big nights, while Nick Foligno had a goal and an assist and Sergei Bobrovsky went the distance, making 23 saves for the win.

Six goals on the other side means that there was going to be some notable players for the Penguins and indeed there were.  Derick Brassard had a couple of goals and an assist, Bryan Rust went one and one and rookie defenseman Juuso Riikola had a pair of assists.  Brian Dumoulin was getting checked out by team medical officials after the game, looking at an upper-body injury, no concrete update was given about it, but we hope to see more today.

We're probably going to see quite a few players from both teams picked up later on today.

From Oshawa, ON, the Sabres and Islanders had themselves a neutral site game and they gave the non-NHL market a pretty good show, the Sabres taking this one 5-4 in regulation.  Jeff Skinner led the way for Buffalo with a pair of goals, Zemgus Girgensons and Rasmus Dahlin each had a goal and an assist and Carter Hutton made 27 saves for the win.  If the Sabres are indeed going to make big improvements over last year, we're going to see a lot of these guys through the year.

Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal and Nick Leddy all had 2 points each in the loss and it could be fair to expect some big things from these guys as well.

Lots of goals in Washington as well, as the Hurricanes and Capitals went back-and-forth all night and into overtime, but the extra frame didn't last too long, as Sebastian Aho scored his 2nd goal of the night only 19 seconds in to end it in favour of the visitors, 5-4.  Aho also added an assist for a 3-point night, outdone by Teuvo Teravainen, who had a goal and 3 assists for a 4-point night.  Let's also tack on 2-assist efforts from both Warren Foegele and Jaccob Slavin, 25 saves from Petr Mrazek and you have yourself a complete effort.

Alex Ovechkin had a couple of goals and Evgeny Kuznetsov had a couple of assists, keeping the Caps in it, but unable to finish the job in the end.  Devante Smith-Pelly returned to the lineup from a club imposed exile from action, as the reports out there suggest that he was held out due to some poor conditioning coming into camp.  He was back in the lineup and got some playing time in of his own.

On the shoulders of their special teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs gave a good lickin' to the Detroit Red Wings at home on Friday night, 6-2.  Three power play goals and a shortie in the 2nd period paved the way to a big victory and you can see their confidence is riding pretty high.  Frederik Andersen made 23 saves for the win, Josh Leivo had 3 assists, Jake Gardiner scored a pair, Patrick Marleau went one and one and then Connor Brown and Auston Matthews had a pair of helpers each.  The Leafs have some decisions to make still, which could hinder picking up a good sleeper from Toronto, but you can probably make some good educated guesses by now.

Red Wings rookie defenseman Dennis Cholowski continues to make a solid impression, picking up a couple of assists in the loss and he may have found his way to the opening night roster as well.

Toronto defenseman Travis Dermott returned to action from his shoulder injury, just in time to get some reps in before the season started, just in case you had him penciled in on your projection list somewhere.

With all of these teams making big changes and doing some good things in this preseason, the St. Louis Blues didn't want you to forget that they made some changes too, but it's going to be a lot of the same ol' St. Louis scoring touch that gets them their wins.  On Friday night, it was a lot of the familiar faces on the scoresheet, like Jaden Schwartz (goal and 2 assists) or Vladimir Tarasenko (goal and an assist), getting the job done in a 3-1 win over the Dallas Stars.  Jake Allen already appears to be rolling his way into form, making 21 saves for the win and even adding an assist as well.

The Central Division is going to be chalk-full of goals this year and the Avalanche beating the Wild, 4-3 in overtime, is a good indication of that.  Philipp Grubauer got the nod for the Avs last night, making 21 saves for the win, but it was sophomore forward Alex Kerfoot making waves, scoring a goal and adding a pair of assists to lead the way.  Tyson Barrie also got a nod from the blog for his 2 assists on the night as well.

Jason Zucker was in on all three Wild goals on the night, scoring one of them himself, which was a shorthanded marker to send the game to overtime, late in the 3rd period.

Vegas finally got to insert defenseman Shea Theodore into their lineup on Friday night, as he was finally made available to play after a long-ish holdout for a new contract.  The move paid off, as Theodore did register an assist in the Vegas' 2-0 win over the Kings, highlighted by Marc-Andre Fleury's 26-save shutout.

I wonder how many skeptics there still are about Vegas and their success.

Sure, there's still a few more days left of the preseason to go, but this was indeed, the last of the preseason performer posts, as my hockey pool draft is today and that's all I'm really gearing up for.  Have your lists ready and properly adjusted, because it's showtime!