Recap and Preview: Looking to rebound quickly

Last night, the Colorado Avalanche faced off against the Minnesota Wild for the second time in 72 hours. Within that span of 72 hours, the Avs fell twice to the Wild with last night’s subpar result of 5-2.

Three goals in quick succession from the Wild led by former Avs member Tyson Jost capped off the win. Jost scored the first two goals for the Wild in his first trip back to Colorado since being traded away. Wearing the ‘A’ proudly for his new team found himself to be smiling and enjoying the moment with his new team.

As for the Avs, it was a performance that could be scrapped away and forgotten about. There are some concerning trends though coming from Pavel Francouz, who struggled with puck control and rebounds all night. Despite only facing 26 shots on goal, he couldn't seem to demand the game in his crease. It’s certainly not the spot he wants to be in in the heat of the battle for the starting job with Alexandar Georgiev.

A positive sign from the Avs side though was Martin Kaut. Kaut assisted on Alex Newhook’s first goal of the game just 19 seconds in after not putting it away himself. He scored the second goal of the night for the Avs on a beautiful wrister that found the top of the net between the circles.

Kaut caught the attention of the coaching staff, specifically Jared Bednar who commented positively on his game in the loss. Kaut had mentioned that he knows this may be his last shot in the NHL with the Avs with several other competitors ranging from Shane Bowers, Alex Galchenyuk, and Ben Meyers. It even had some people talking about him actually getting a spot come October 12.

The first round of cuts is on the way today. Bednar stated they could come before or after the fourth preseason game tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights. We may have an idea based on the result of tonight’s game.

Colorado Avalanche

For the Avs, being at an even .500 in the preseason right now is not a bad spot to be at all. Having played mostly AHL players and sprinkled in a couple of NHL regulars in the opening few games was to be expected and is working out fine for them so far.

We have not yet seen any of the healthy superstars for the Avs such as Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Devon Toews, or Cale Makar. They likely won’t feature tonight either for the Avs as Bednar will continue to take a glimpse at who he wants on his side moving forward.

One of the rookies that will likely be sticking around is Oskar Olausson, who has continued to impress in this preseason. After a good rookie tournament and training camp, he’s been in the side for games but has not yet recorded a point. He’s been plenty noticeable with his speed and agility moving the play forward and is in the running for an Opening Night spot.

As of the publishing of this article, there’s no word yet on the lineups and who will be traveling to Vegas for tonight’s affair.

Vegas Golden Knights

As for Vegas, they’ve suffered two straight losses in this preseason, once already to the Avs and another to the Los Angeles Kings in OT. Vegas has had its own woes when it comes to injuries and lacking personnel. After missing the playoffs for the first time in franchise history last season, they are looking to turn things around quickly and get back to the postseason after missing out.

Vegas has been playing some of their stars already, with Jack Eichel recording this lovely goal against the Kings with an assist from newly-acquired Phil Kessel. Both may play tonight based on what new head coach Bruce Cassidy decides to do with his team that is looking to get in the win column before the season truly begins.