The Colorado Avalanche began their preseason schedule with split-squad an away contest against the Minnesota Wild in the afternoon and a home match against the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday night at Ball Arena.
The Avalanche suffered a 3-2 overtime loss to Minnesota in the afternoon, while the home squad hosted Vegas at Ball Arena and went on to defeat the Golden Knights 3-1 at home.
For the Avalanche against Vegas, Alex Beaucage scored on the power play while J.T. Compher scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period and also on the power play. Bo Byram added an empty-net goal Alexandar Georgiev made his debut in a Colorado sweater where he made 12 saves on 13 shots. Jonas Johansson took over in net midway through the second period and made 10 saves on as many shots.
For Vegas, Paul Cotter scored on the power play. In net, Michael Hutchinson made 13 saves on as many shots. Jiri patera took over in net midway through the second period and made 14 saves on 16 shots.
THE SCORING:
First Period:
19:08 – VGK 1, COL 0, PPG – Nicolas Roy fed Paul Cotter in the low slot, who zipped his shot off the post and past Georgiev for the game’s icebreaker.
Second Period: No goals.
Third Period:
0:59 – COL 1, VGK 1, PPG – Alex Beaucage put the Avalanche on the board with a power-play goal equalizer to make it 1-1. Jacob MacDonald and Jean-Luc Foudy tallied the assists.
13:11 – COL 2, VGK 1, PPG – J.T. Compher scored a sharp-angle shot and roofed it over Patera to give the Avalanche a 2-0 lead. Evan Rodrigues and Andrew Cogliano picked up the assists.
18:51 – COL 3, VGK 1, ENG – Bo Byram lofted a puck from the defensive zone into Vegas’ empty net to extend Colorado’s lead 3-1.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
The Avalanche were 2-for-9 on the power play and were 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.
The Golden Knights were 1-for-5 on the power play and were 7-for-9 on the penalty kill.
NOTEBOOK:
Alexandar Georgiev made his debut in an Avalanche sweater… J.T. Compher, Logan O’Connor and Andrew Cogliano all represented the leadership group on the ice among the roster and wore an ‘A’ on their respective jerseys… Lukas Sedlak and Brad Hunt (against Minnesota) and Evan Rodrigues (against Vegas) also made their respective debuts in an Avalanche sweater…
MINNESOTA WILD RECAP:
Sunday was a busy day for the Avalanche as it was split between a matinee game at Minnesota at 2 p.m. MT and a home game against Vegas. The first group that traveled to Minnesota suffered a 3-2 overtime loss. Spencer Smallman and Shane Bowers scored for Colorado.
NEXT GAME:
The Avalanche continue their preseason with their next game at Ball Arena as they host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m.
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