Colorado Avalanche Little-Knowns Crush Wild Vets
The Colorado Avalanche opened their preseason with almost no veterans in their lineup, but still managed to shut down a more seasoned Minnesota roster.
The Colorado Avalanche out-shot the Minnesota Wild last night.
Let me say that again.
The Colorado Avalanche out-shot the Minnesota Wild last night. Oh, and the score wasn’t too bad either!
The Avs did this while lacking every one of their top-6 forwards, any veteran defensemen, and either of the goalies expected to play in the NHL this coming year. Mikhail Grigorenko was probably the top player on the roster, as a crew of little-known Avs crushed the big, stupid doo-doo heads known as the Minnesota Wild.
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But this was just a preseason game, so no big deal, right?
Not quite. While the Wild roster was still not in its final form, veterans Jason Pominville, Eric Staal, and Jason Zucker had the most ice time for forwards. The defense was a little less seasoned, but starting in net was “elite goaltender” (I ALWAYS chuckle when I say that) Devan Dubnyk.
Yes, Devan Dubnyk, the goalie every Wild fan thought was the missing piece they needed to beat the Chicago Blackhawks, let in three goals against a bunch of guys most of whom might not even see a second of ice time in the NHL this year.
Are Jared Bednar’s new systems just this good, or is Devan Dubnyk just this bad?
The Avs had goals from Mike Sislo (Troy Bourke), professional try-out Rene Bourque (Eric Gelinas, Chris Bigras), and Mikhail Grigorenko (Duncan Siemens, Rene Bourque), before Ben Smith (Turner Elson) capped the night off with an empty-netter.
The Avs out-shot the Wild 30-28, despite being out-done in the faceoff circle 58%-42%.
But perhaps the biggest surprise of the night is seeing little-known goalie Nathan Lieuwen make a breathtaking save:
Lieuwen with THE MOVES! https://t.co/SV68pJgnlJ
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) September 28, 2016
Put your hands down, Jason Pominville. Dubnyk, start taking notes.
Overall, it was a really solid performance for this young Avs crew, and they displayed a deft understanding of the new systems put in place. Coach Bednar praised the effort, and stressed that even in exhibition, consistently going for the win matters. From the Colorado Avalanche website:
I really liked our effort. I thought, as the game went on, we kind of found our groove a little bit, and I thought the guys worked extremely hard.
Preseason or not, we’re going to compete to win every night. That’s our goal.
There is still, of course, room for improvement. The Wild had slightly more shot attempts, topping the Avs 59-53, but that margin is significantly closer than most of the games last season.
This is obviously just one preseason game, but I’m excited by what we’ve seen so far, as well as the future of this team!
Colorado faces Dallas at home tonight with a lineup that will likely consist of more veterans.
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