Preseason Saturday September 27

As we catch up here at FIW on the weekend we now take a look at Saturday. There were 12 matchups with 24 teams getting their kinks out before the season starts. Former Islanders were involved in 4 of those games. Three of the competitions had incomplete boxscores so reports on those yielded no FI news. Here is a look at the FI contributions from Saturday:

Two FI goaltenders got some playing time in as the New Jersey Devils were hosted by the New York Rangers. Backstopping New Jersey to the 4-2 win was backup goalie Kevin Weekes who played half the game before giving way to Scott Clemmensen. Weekes stopped all 10 shots he faced as the Devils built a 4-0 lead around his strong performance. On the other side of the benches Blueshirts' backup Stephen Valiquette filled in the last half the game after starter Henrik Lundqvist surrendered those 4 tallies. Vali stopped all 11 shots he faced. Weekes improved to 1-1-0 on the preseason while Valiquette fell to an ominous 0-3-0 in his exhibition time.

Boston Bruins' forward Petteri Nokelainen is working hard to show he should be with the big club when the season starts. Nokelainen does have competition though. He helped his cause bgy scoring a game tying goal only 5:30 in to the 3rd period but all was for naught as the Bruins fell to the visiting Washington Capitals 4-3. This was first offensive impact Nokelainen has made in the preseason for the Bs.

New St. Louis winger Steve Regier assisted on the Blues' opening goal as they were edged by the host Dallas Stars 4-3. Regier is trying to make an impact on his new team after playing in 18 games over the last 3 season with the Isles without a scoring a point. Regier is hoping there will be an NHL spot available for him on a youthful Blues squad.


And finally, a pair of Vancouver FIs made some noise as the Canucks skittered by the host San Jose Sharks 3-2. Roberto Luongo got his first win of the preseason stopping all 14 shots he faced while playing the first 2 periods of the game. Luongo is 1-0-0 in exhibition this year. Last year's AHL scoring leader, forward Jason Krog helped the Canucks' cause with a shorthanded goal 5:31 in the 2nd period to lift Vancouver to a 2-0 lead. Krog has a real good shot to make the lineup especially in light of his recent contributions in the preseason.

Check back for more news, updates and recaps at FIW.