Last Night's Preseason Performers (Oct 2)

The Ottawa Senators and a lineup that closely resembled what we should see on opening night, went into Montreal and handed the Canadiens a pretty good thumping on Thursday night, 5-2.

Forward Mark Stone continued his ascent up the rankings with a 3-point night, as did defenseman Cody Ceci, who went step for step with Stone in the game, as they each had a goal and 2 assists.  Clarke MacArthur appears in the blog again, picking up a goal and an assist, while Craig Anderson made 40 saves for the win.

There wasn't a lot going on for the blog in a 3-2 Tampa Bay victory over Dallas at home on Thursday night.  No scorers went into multiple points on either team and it was only Ben Bishop, who played the entire game for the Bolts, making 23 saves for the victory.

Bishop's status as the number one goalie wasn't really in question, but whether or not he would be able to start the season in the crease at all was a huge underlying question.  By the look of things, he should be ready to go for opening night, so I would expect him to go very early in tomorrow's draft.

The Buffalo Sabres didn't exactly dress all of their shiny new toys, when the team took to the ice in Minnesota to take on the Wild and that B group took a 6-1 kicking at the hands of their hosts.

Devan Dubnyk only had to make 10 saves to get the victory for the Wild, while Charlie Coyle, Mikko Koivu, Jason Zucker and Tyler Graovac each picked up a pair of points each as well.

The Wild are going to be a difficult team to play against this season and they should have enough players to make their marks on the scoresheet, which is a positive for us poolies.

The St. Louis Blues are getting healthier as camp rolls on and they celebrated the return of forward Jori Lehtera with a 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at home on Thursday night.

Lehtera celebrated himself, scoring a goal and an assist in his first preseason action, while Jaden Schwartz and rookie defenseman Colton Parayko makes another appearance in the blog with a couple points.

The Blues goaltending has gone stride for stride with each other, as Jake Allen picked up another win, making 20 saves in a full game's worth of action.  As far as I can tell today, Allen and Brian Elliott are destined to split this season.

Looking at the penalty summary of the Flames and Jets game, it looks like this will be a good season series, but for the night, the home team got the best of the visitors from Alberta.

Mark Scheifele appears ready to take the next step, picking up a pair of goals and an assist in the victory, while Nikolaj Ehlers had a goal and an assist in the victory as well.

With the 32-save victory, I would wonder if Michael Hutchinson has revitalized the goaltending debate in Winnipeg, as he and Ondrej Pavelec will start the year as the tandem, but how long is the leash for the opening night starter?

Well, surprise, surprise!  In a game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers, would you have believed me when I said it was going to be the Canucks' youth that did the trick against an upstart Oilers team?  Vancouver took their last road preseason game, 5-2, on Thursday night and it was a great combination of their prospect pool that did the deed.

Sven Baertschi gets the lead nod, picking up 4 assists in the victory, while Bo Horvat and Jake Virtanen each had 3 points and they were all complimented by defenseman Yannick Weber, who had a goal and an assist.  Jacob Markstrom also contributed, making 21 saves for the win for the visitors and they're all earning their ice-time now.  Tough decisions ahead for the Canucks.

Finally, in Anaheim, the Ducks played host to the Avalanche and were playing terrible hosts, as they didn't allow their guests to light the lamp at all in a 3-0 victory.

Unfortunately for this post, the shutout was split, as the starter, John Gibson, left the game with an illness, not to return for the 3rd period.  Defenseman Hampus Lindholm was the only notable player in this one, picking up a pair of assists in the win.

The Ducks are preparing to be a dominant force this season and their well for points will be deep and plentiful, by the look of things.