Preseason woo!

Here is the lineup we used last night:

Higgins - Drury - Kotalik
Grachev - Anisimov - Callahan
Brashear - Boyle - Parenteau
Byers - Matt Maccarone (?) - Lisin

Staal - Gilroy
Del Zotto - Girardi
Alexei Semenov (?) - Sauer

Valiquette
Matt Zaba (?)

Marian Gaborik's absence, unlike other absences such as Sean "told a fan to get rid of his Gomez jersey" Avery's is notable, because Gaborik was forced out with a sore groin. But don't worry, he skated at training camp again yesterday. 2 days in a row!

We lost 2-1 to the Bruins. According to Larry Brooks, Grachev was impressive and Anisimov wasn't. No surprises. The most promising news was that Higgins, who scored our only goal, was apparently very very good. This not only from Brooks and Steve Zipay, but also from Torts:

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I thought he was probably one of our strongest players on the puck, especially in the second half of the game. If we're going to be a good team and a competitive team, he needs to be a goal-scorer for us, he needs to be a penalty-killer for us, he needs to be a top-six forward for us. He needs to accept the responsibility of that, and tonight was a good sign. I thought he played really hard on the puck in both ends, and that line, Drury's line - him, Kotalik, and Higgins - I thought in the third period was probably one of our best lines.
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Torts also had very nice things to say about both Gilroy and Del Zotto, bringing up multiple times throughout the press conference that he liked their tendency to get into the play and shoot the puck. So, overall, a positive message coming from the head coach.

Oh, and Brashear was booed every time he touched the puck.

Tonight, at the Rock, we are playing:

Avery - Prospal - Parenteau
Voros - Arnason - Lisin
Grachev - Boyle - Kotalik
Rissmiller - Matt Maccarone (?) - Dan LaCouture (?)

Redden - Gilroy
Del Zotto - Rozsival
Brent Henley (?) - Potter

Lundqvist
Johnson

Tomorrow (after tonight's game and the Wolfpack vs Lowell Devils game that is going on right now), the current 55 (54?) -man roster will be pared down significantly, to about 30 players (it needs to be 23 by opening night).

Also fuck the Devils.