"It's going to be pretty fun," said Colorado forward Alexander Kerfoot of playing at Vegas. "It's going to be a unique experience being there for a preseason game. I think it will be their second game at home there, so it will be a cool thing to be a part of."
On the final of three competitions in three days, the Avs concluded Monday night with a 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars to improve their preseason record to 3-2-0.
Nathan MacKinnon came out hot, putting the Avalanche on the scoreboard just 30 seconds into the game. Entering the second period with the score tied 1-1, tallies by Matt Nieto and Kerfoot helped give Colorado back the lead. Goaltender Jonathan Bernier had a tremendous first 40 minutes, making 25 saves on 26 shots before leaving with a groin injury.
The match was sealed with a third-stanza goal by Mikko Rantanen and nine saves from goalie Semyon Varlamov, who played the final frame in relief of Bernier. Varlamov is expected to get the start on Thursday.
The Avs hope to revenge their previous 4-1 loss to the Golden Knights earlier in exhibition play on Sept. 19. Vegas scored three goals before the first intermission, and despite a marker in the second frame from MacKinnon, the Avs failed to find the back of the net again to make up ground.
The Golden Knights are 3-1-1 in the preseason and are coming off their first home game on the Strip, a 3-2 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night. William Carrier scored the tying goal in the third to send the contest into overtime for Vegas, but Brooks Laich snuck the puck past former Colorado netminder Calvin Pickard only 12 seconds into the extra period to give the Kings the win.
The Avs have started reassigning players to their American Hockey League affiliate in San Antonio and have a roster of 29 for their last exhibition game. This leaves just a few adjustments that still need to be made for the club to get down to the league-mandated, 23-man active roster for the regular-season opener on Oct. 5 at the New York Rangers.
Colorado's lineup against Vegas could be a precursor to the one the team ices on opening night.
