Last Night's Preseason Performers (Oct 3 - Draft Day Edition)

This is the last edition of the preseason performers, as we draft this afternoon! How exciting, am I right?

The Columbus Blue Jackets brought a number of prospects to the party in Buffalo and they crashed it pretty well.  Although going up 5-0, they almost let a preseason result slip through their fingers, but still winning the game 6-4 in the end.

William Karlsson led the way for the Blue Jackets, scoring a goal and adding 3 assists for a 4-point night, while one of the called up prospects, Oliver Bjorkstrand, made a good push to be kept on with the big club, scoring a pair of goals and adding an assist.  Matt Calvert and Markus Hannikainen each had a couple points for the Jackets in the win.

This year's back-up, Curtis McElhinney revived his coach's faith in him, turning away 24 shots for the win.

On the losing side, newcomer Jamie McGinn potted a pair of goals for Buffalo.

James Wisniewski had a big game for the Carolina Hurricanes, as he scored the winning goal and added an assist in a 2-1 victory over the powerhouse of the Metropolitan Division.  The newly added defender is going to try and make an impression on his new team, who can provide him with lots of minutes, if necessary.

The start for this one was given to Cam Ward, who made 34 saves for the Carolina victory, helping his cause to be the number one for the Hurricanes.

Between the Flyers and the Devils, there wasn't much.  A 2-2 game, which made it through the overtime periods and went to the shootout, where the Devils took it by only going 1-for-3 in the skills competition.

In regulation, the Flyers were the only team with a multi-point player and that was Claude Giroux, who had a couple of assists in the loss.  It looks like he's ready to go this year.

Cory Schneider made 21 saves in regulation and overtime and then another three stops in the shootout to earn the win.  The word is that he wants to start a bunch of games this year, maybe even an obscene amount, which could be a dangerous proposition.

It was the grand return of Mike Babcock to the building he called home for so many years, as the Toronto Maple Leafs visited the Detroit Red Wings for some preseason hockey on Friday night.  The Red Wings got the better of their old coach, taking the game 4-2 in the end, leading into the last weekend of the preseason.

Henrik Zetterberg was in fine form on Friday, picking up a goal and an assist in the win, while Jimmy Howard was given the start for the Red Wings, making 31 saves for the victory.  The Red Wings will still be a formidable force this year, I figure... just got to make sure you know who's the starting goalie.

In the last game of the night (and the last of my preseason games coverage), the San Jose Sharks traveled to the Arizona desert to take on the lowly Coyotes and there, it was a pretty sound thumping through 60 minutes, as the Sharks bested their division rivals, 3-0.

Martin Jones only had to make 18 saves for the shutout, which would have been good for 4 points, while Joe Pavelski scored a pair of goals and Tomas Hertl had a goal and an assist in the win.

Maybe with Jones in net, this team has a strong sense of confidence to their game.  He now becomes a very interesting option in the pool this year.