Hang up the banner! The Colorado Avalanche won a preseason game!

All jokes aside, the Avs held off the pressure from the Vegas Golden Knights to wrap up a 3-1 win on the Strip on Thursday night. It’s the first of the preseason, with one more to go before the real work begins.

The roster is starting to take shape with what we’ll see in less than a week against the same Vegas team for Opening Night. With the result, it’s nice to see the squad seemingly coming together and getting results along the way. On to the summary!

First period

Colorado came out flying to open the game. Cal Ritchie, lined up with Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin, had a great tap-in opportunity, but Ilya Samsonov broke up the initial pass. He also had a few chances after making hasty contact with MacKinnon, but was again denied.

Ivan Ivan also had an open-net chance, but that was also stopped. But it didn’t take long for the Avs to finally break through as Drouin and MacKinnon came together, thanks to Ritchie’s ability to break the puck off the boards and lead the rush.

Brett Howden checked Devon Toews in the final two minutes, leading to the first power play of the game, where Casey Mittelstadt found the iron. Colorado led by 13-6 shots going into halftime and was unlucky to only have a one-goal lead.

Second Period

After both teams traded penalties in the first ten seconds of the period, Colorado kept its foot on the gas pedal. Sam Malinski would be the next to benefit as he accurately drilled a puck through traffic to find rope and double the lead.

His team led by 18-9 shots at the half, but Vegas found another gear. Colorado would not record a shot for over 10 minutes and bring Justus Annunen more into the game.

Ultimately, the Golden Knights would make the visiting team pay. Oliver Kylington’s holding penalty led to Jack Eichel curling home an top corner to halve the lead with 20 minutes remaining.

Third Period

The Avs would be put on the back foot early, with Logan O’Connor throwing the puck over the glass to put the game away. A search for Vegas opportunities would be thrown into the fold, but Annunen would defend them all.

From there, Colorado continued to play defense in the third period, eliminating the Golden Knights. Midway through the period, they held the home side without any shots on goal for the final 13 minutes.

O’Connor would redeem his penalty from the start of the period with a backhanded empty netter from the neutral zone. It would ice the game and the Avs’ first win of the preseason with a score of 3-1.

Takeaways

In the first period it would be Colorado’s first line, which would be fun to watch. Watching Ritchie connect with players at the NHL level and create opportunities paid off as he assisted on Drouin’s goal to open the game. The same can be said about Ivan and Malinski, who also contributed as the latter of the two scored the match winner. But everyone stepped back and took their foot off the gas pedal to give Vegas a chance. It wasn’t outstanding for either skater, but it was good to see the team finally get some chemistry together and look like a capable NHL squad with the win.

If there was an outstanding player, it would be Annunen. Although he only faced nine shots in the first half hour, he faced enough to end it. Especially in the middle frame and the beginning of the third, he stood on his head to save his defenders and keep the match at one score. In the end, he couldn’t do anything about Eichel’s power-play goal, but he deserves his kudos. He had a similar performance against the Dallas Stars last season, which some people thought landed him the backup role. That wasn’t the case last year, but maybe this performance can show Jared Bednar that he doesn’t have to look elsewhere for reinforcement.

Upcoming

There is one final preseason game coming up against the Utah Hockey Club at the Maverick Center, home of the ECHL affiliate for the Avs, the Utah Grizzlies. Saturday night puck drop is at 5pm MT.