Here’s your recap of tonight’s pre-season action. Please try to contain your excitement reading these scores and remember, nothing actually counts. It’s nice to have hockey to talk about at least.
Plus: New Penguins Mike Comrie, Brett Sterling, and Ryan Craig all made great first impressions in the first game at CONSOL Energy Center. Ruslan Salei had the only goal for Detroit, so that was nice.
Minus: Brooks Orpik getting kicked out of the game for a knee-on-knee hit with Johan Franzen. Chris Osgood letting in five goals on 27 shots is deflating for Detroit. Future Grand Rapids Griffin Brian Lashoff was a -4 on defense for the Wings.
Plus: Leafs line of Nikolai Kulemin-Tyler Bozak-Phil Kessel clicked well all night. That bodes well for the season as that will likely be the Leafs top line. Clarke MacArthur and Luca Caputi also had two point nights. Nick Foligno had the lone goal for Ottawa. Jay Rosehill had yet another fight to improve his cult hero status in Toronto.
Minus: Sens goalie Brian Elliott looked shaky making 26 saves in the game. TSN and NBC’s Pierre McGuire gets a thumbs-down for his lack of poise when Leafs defenseman Mike Komisarek dumped Senator Francis Lessard into his broadcast spot between the benches. We kid because we love, Pierre.
Plus: Caps forward and future Hershey Bear Matt Hendricks had a hat-trick. Tomas Fleischmann played a strong game in an effort to prove to everyone he can be the team’s #2 centerman adding a goal and two assists. Caps goalie Semyon Varlamov stopped all 20 shots he saw in 30 minutes of play. Rick Nash and Nikita Filatov scored for Columbus. They’ll need those two to get it done a lot this year.
Minus: Columbus goaltending was barf-tastic. Steve Mason stopped 11 of 13 shots while Daren Machesney stopped 12 of 16 shots. Jackets defensemen Teddy Ruth and Fedor Tyutin were both -3 on the night.
Plus: Nathan Horton made a good impression for Boston scoring 93 seconds into the game. Tyler Seguin had an assist and Patrice Bergeron stepped up in a big way with two goals including one shorthanded. Tomas Plekanec had a goal and assist while Josh Gorges had two assists for Montreal.
Minus: Carey Price had a rough night stopping six out of 10 shots he saw. Montreal fans had a worse night after booing Price off the ice when Curtis Sanford took over halfway through the game in a scheduled replacement. For the love of Henri Richard, Montreal - it’s the preseason!
Plus: Simon Gagne makes a great first impression scoring a goal and getting two assists. Speaking of good impressions, Blair Jones of Tampa makes an impression on Hawks defenseman Nick Boynton’s face with his fist. Winnipeg natives Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews scored for Chicago.
Minus: Nick Boynton’s knee-on-knee hit with Chris Durno that earned him a face-beating via Blair Jones. Not cool, man. NHL veteran defenseman Jassen Cullimore looked lost out there for Chicago. Another season in Rockford awaits for him.
Plus: Son of former NHL goon extraordinaire Basil McRae, Phillip McRae, scored for the Blues. David Backes and David Perron each had two points for St. Louis. Blues prospect Ben Bishop made 23 saves in the win. Martin Havlat scored the only goal for the hapless Wild.
Minus: The Wild didn’t sell out the game. Not usually a big deal for most teams in the preseason, but for the Wild this was their first non-sellout game in franchise history. Ouch, babe. Nicklas Backstrom stopped just 13 shots out of 18 in earning the loss.
Plus: The Kings won after getting down 2-0. Four different Kings scored goals. Spreading the wealth is a good thing. Jonathan Bernier stopped 21 shots in the win. Kyle Quincey had a goal and an assist for the Avs.
Minus: The Avs gave up 42 shots to the Kings. The defensive plan for Colorado that reads “let them shoot at will” might not pan out this year. John Grahame (remember him?) was uninspiring stopping 21 of 24 shots in his 30 minutes of work for Colorado.
Plus: Give it up for the underdogs. A mostly pedestrian lineup of Oilers pulled out the win having only Shawn Horcoff and Martin Gerber to really rely on. Ben Ondrus, Chris Vande Velde, and Gregory Stewart scored for the Oilers. Daniel Sedin and reclamation project Peter Schaefer scored for Vancouver.
Minus: Roberto Luongo was a bit rusty. Rebounds scattered all over the place and he played with relative unease in goal. Let’s hang a big minus overall on Vancouver for using a lineup loaded with regulars and losing to a team full of future Oklahoma City Barons. I know it’s preseason, but you should at least be able to come out on top in this game.
Plus: Ryan Getzlaf and Matt Beleskey each had two points for the Ducks while Jonas Hiller stopped all 20 shots he saw in 30 minutes of play. Torrey Mitchell had a goal for San Jose.
Minus: Antero Niittymaki was shaky as shaky can get stopping just eight out of 12 shots in 40 minutes. Sharks defensemen Nick Petrecki and Jason Demers were each -3 on the night.