Preseason: Colorado Avalanche beat the house, take home 5-3 victory

Woo! More hockey! Wait...what do you mean this game wasn’t televised? Well, the show must go on! Connor McGahey and Peter McNab’s voicebox’s, in addition to Twitter, were my only sources tonight so I apologize for the skim coverage. Good news, though! The Avs (essentially the Colorado Eagles tonight) defeated the Vegas Golden Knights (most of their NHL roster was playing tonight) 5-3. Both teams escaped the game relatively injury free. Anton Lindholm left after the first period and did not return with an upper-body injury.

First Period

J.T. Compher started the scoring off early, beating Malcom Subban to put the Avalanche up 1-0 just 1:01 into the game. Martin Kaut and Ryan Graves both scored assists on that goal. Not long after, training camp and preseason standout Logan O’Connor took a hooking penalty that was successfully killed off by the Avs PK units.

Halfway through the period, Vegas’s William Carrier went off for boarding Anton Lindholm. Lindholm ended up leaving the game with an upper-body injury but without seeing the hit, it’s unclear if the two events are related. Good ol’ Carl Soderberg was able to bury a powerplay goal with assists from Alex Kerfoot and Sam Girard.

Max Pacioretty put one past Pavel Francouz but an old favorite, Paul Stastny, found himself a bit too far into the crease and the goal was called off due to goaltender interference.

The period ended as the Golden Knights led the Avs in shots 9-7 but the Avs lead in goals 2-0.

Second Period

It was a quiet period, for the most part, until Max Pacioretty got his goal back, beating Francouz about 10 minutes in. Assists from Alex Tuch and Brayden McNabb on that one.

It didn’t take long for the Avs to respond as Sheldon Dries found the back of the net. 3-1 Avalanche. Dries was signed as a free agent on July 2nd, 2018.

Girard made a magnificent defensive play, saving a sure goal for the Golden Knights. From what I could put together from just the radio feed, Francouz got a piece of a shot, but it ended up trickling past him and Girard was there to make the save and get the puck frozen.

The rest of the period strolled on relatively uneventfully. The Avs nearly evened up the shot total, bridging the gap to 19-20, Knights. BUUUUUT they have the lead in the game, 3-2, which is what we all know is ACTUALLY important.

Third Period

Scoring opened up quickly after a slow start to this period. Another 2018 free agent singing, Scott Kosmachuk rifled one past Subban with help from AJ Greer and Dominic Toninato.

Shortly after, the Knights showed life. Jake Bischoff scores his second of the preseason. Erik Haula and Brad Hunt have the apples. Not long after that, Vladislav Kamenev is called for hooking, setting the Golden Knights up for a nice little power play. The Avs almost kill it off until Hunt is able to convert and score with 20 seconds left on the Kamenev penalty. 4-3 Avs.

Two penalties between both clubs and just as many kills between them, the rest of the game was quiet. Kamenev scored on the empty net with 1:05 left in the period and that seals the deal for the Avs!

FINAL: 5-3 Avalanche

What We Learned

• Would-be University of Denver captain Logan O’Connor might be the real deal. He seems to be NHL ready
• Pavel Francouz was decent. Better when you realize that he was playing in front of a near entirely AHL defense, as well as being down a defenseman with the Lindholm injury. Girard and Nemeth were the only NHL quality defenders for the Avs this game.
• Apparently, the Colorado Eagles can beat the Vegas Golden Knights and no one can tell you otherwise.