NHL Recaps: Kraken, Wild, Blues, Canes, and Devils remain unbeaten in preseason
Anthony Scultore
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NHL Recaps: September 29, 2022
On Thursday night, 14 teams went into their preseason games and all five came out on the other end still unbeaten,
The Seattle Kraken (3-0), Minnesota Wild (3-0), St. Louis Blues (4-0), Carolina Hurricanes (2-0), and New Jersey Devils (3-0) are all enjoying exhibition success.
NHL Recaps: Kraken come back to stay perfect
Kraken 4 vs Canucks 3 (OT)
Vancouver had a 3-1 lead after two Andrei Kuzmenko goals heading into the third period, only to watch Seattle mount a comeback and win it in OT. Ryan Donato was the hero scoring with just 41 seconds left in the extra session on a breakaway going backhand over Arturs Silovs. Martin Jones and Joey Daccord combined for the Kraken win.
Wild 5 vs Stars 2
Five different Wild players scored in the contest including prized prospect Marco Rossi and veteran Mats Zuccarello. Jesper Wallstedt went the distance in goal making 33 saves for the win. Dallas did get a power play goal from recent trade acquisition Nils Lundkvist in the contest.
Blues 4 vs Blue Jackets 2
St. Louis keeps rolling in the preseason as Pavel Buchnevich led the way with a goal and an assist. Thomas Greiss and Colten Ellis combined for 33 saves in the game. The Blue Jackets’ goals were both scored by promising young star Yegor Chinakov
Hurricanes 5 vs Panthers 2
Carolina had a good time at the expense of Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who made just 23 saves on 28 shots. Dylan Coghlan registered his fourth assist of the preseason on Stefan Noesen’s opening goal. Derek Stepan, Justin Robidas, Vasiliy Ponomarev, and Jack Drury also scored. Antti Raanta stopped 20 of 21 in his 40 minutes of action.
Devils 5 vs Rangers 2
Despite two Rangers shorthanded goals (Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafreniere) the Devils speed and tenacity kept them perfect in the preseason. Dougie Hamilton led the way with a goal and two assists. Miles Wood, Nathan Bastian, Tomas Tatar, and Erik Haula all scored. Vitek Vanecek played the entire game for Jersey making 15 saves. Igor Shesterkin stopped 22 of 25 in his two periods of play.
“I’m glad it’s game three (of the preseason) and not five and six,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said afterwards. “Sloppy. We had a tough, tough game.”
NHL Recaps: Habs still can’t get a win
Jets 4 vs Canadiens 3
While we look at teams that remain unbeaten, the Montreal Canadiens (0-3) can’t buy a victory. The good news is Jake Allen looked strong again in stopping 10 of 11 but Cayden Primeau continues to struggle allowing 3 on 14 shots. Brad Lambert scored for the Jets in this contest and Cole Caufield got his second preseason goal for the Habs.
Montreal finished dead last and hope to do much better in 2022-23, which will be head coach Marty St. Louis’ first full season behind the bench.
Predarors 2 vs Lightning 0
The Tampa Bay Lightning are also winless (0-2) losing to the Nashville Predators. Nino Niederreiter and John Leonard notched the Pred goals with Kevin Lankinen turning aside all 30 shots he faced for the shutout.
