Other things that stood out
How Pekka Rinne and Juuse Saros looked was at the forefront. Both gave up their fair share of goals, but Saros stood out for the wrong reason in the first scrimmage due to an onslaught from players like Viktor Arvidsson, Ryan Johansen and Matheiu Olivier.
Saros was tested early and often in the first scrimmage and let a few soft ones get by, while Rinne wasn’t tested nearly as much on the other side.
In the second scrimmages, roles reversed a bit. Rinne saw more action and had to make a lot more difficult saves. He rose to the challenge on some of them, but his squad came out on the losing end to a score of 5-2.
Saros should remain the starter for the season-opener against the Blue Jackets on Thursday. Expect Rinne to get plenty of starts as well in the condensed schedule.
We didn’t get to see a whole lot from Connor Ingram or Kasimir Kaskisuo in net, which kind of surprised me. It was mainly Saros and Rinne’s show.
The prospects had a fairly modest two-game scrimmage. Aside from Olivier scoring twice, there’s wasn’t a ton that jumped out at you to make a case for someone to jump up the depth chart.
However, Eeli Tolvanen does look like he has a more polished game now and is ready for NHL minutes on a consistent basis. He scored in the final scrimmage.
There’s two more practices left and then it’s the real deal. It’s going to feel like playoff hockey right out of the gate with all games against division opponents.