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Preseason quick recaps - September 26th

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It was a light night in preseason action and somehow the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t make an appearance. Tonight’s big game occurred in Edmonton. Big being a relative term considering it’s a preseason game.

Detroit 5 - NY Rangers 3

Plus: Brian Rafalski pretended like it was the Olympics once again scoring a goal and adding three assists in his first action of the preseason. Sean Avery played well and had a goal for New York. Norwegian Olympic hero Mats Zuccarello looked well playing the role of a pest and helping set up Erik Christensen for a shorthanded goal.

Minus: Referee Kelly Sutherland wrongly negating a Detroit goal because, you guessed it, Tomas Holmstrom was in the crease. Replays showed Holmstrom neither interfering with Rangers goalie Martin Biron nor standing in the crease. Reputation calls in preseason? Oy. Red Wings play while on the man advantage was sketchy allowing two-on-one breaks the other way, one leading to Artem Anisimov’s shorthanded goal.

Montreal 4 - Minnesota 3

Plus: Habs rookie defenseman Brendon Nash had a goal and an assist. He’s played well in the preseason and while it’s not expected he’ll get a shot with Montreal, it’s good to have young talent emerging in camp nonetheless. The Wild were able to score three goals tonight and Anton Khudobin did reasonably well in the start saving 24 shots.

Minus: So the Wild did score three goals, but they did so on just 14 shots, including just one shot in the second period. The Wild are poised to be an offensively-challenged team as it is. Showing some signs of life in the preseason would go a long way to helping the fans deal with things. Alex Auld stopping merely 11 out of 14 shots could be seen as a minus, or it could be seen as an example of what happens when you fall asleep in goal.

Edmonton 8 - Vancouver 2

Plus: Jordan Eberle showed off a little bit tonight for Edmonton scoring two goals and adding an assist. Shawn Horcoff did the same while Gilbert Brule had two goals and two assists. Save some for the regular season guys, you’re going to need it. Nikolai Khabibulin looked strong in his first game of the preseason stopping 26 out of 28 shots.

Minus: Everything Vancouver did defensively. They were slow, Oilers players routinely blew by them and goalie Cory Schneider ate all eight goals in the loss. Cody Hodgson was quiet in the game, not earning a point but managed to not eat a minus rating on the night, instead ending up a +1. At least he had that going for a hapless Canucks team.

St. Louis 2 - Colorado 0

Plus: Goalie Ben Bishop had a 29-save shutout for the Blues. Meanwhile, Brad Boyes and T.J. Oshie had the goals. Avs goalie Craig Anderson, despite the loss, made 37 saves in the effort.

Minus: Holy crap, Avs defense. 39 shots allowed again tonight and forcing Craig Anderson to put in a mid-season effort in a preseason game seems a bit unfair. Give the guy a break, would you?