Avalanche Fall 6-3 to Utah in Third Preseason Game

The Avalanche were defeated by Utah Hockey Club 6-3 in Sunday's preseason matchup at Ball Arena. Miles Wood, Sam Malinski, and Calum Ritchie scored for Colorado while Justus Annunen made 32 saves.

The Avalanche opened the scoring at 13:12 of the first period when Samuel Girard sent a pass from the point to Ivan Ivan below the goal line before Ivan fed Wood at the doorstep for a five-on-three power-play goal.

Utah’s Dylan Guenther tied the game at one at 18:32 of the opening frame with a left-circle one-timer on the power play.

The teams entered the first intermission tied at one with Utah leading 10-9 in shots on goal.

Colorado took a 2-1 lead at 2:17 of the second period on the power play when Malinski rushed down the right-wing side, took the puck to the net, and went five-hole with a backhand shot.

Guenther scored his second of the game with a left-circle one-timer at 7:19 of the second period after he received a cross-ice feed from Clayton Keller.

Utah took a 3-2 lead at 13:13 of the middle frame when Cameron Hebig sent a right-circle wrist shot past Justus Annunen.

Josh Doan doubled Utah’s lead at 19:09 when he took a rebound in the blue paint and scored with a backhand shot.

Utah took a 4-2 lead into the second intermission along 28-19 advantage in shots on goal.

Keller gave Utah a three-goal advantage at 6:15 of the third period with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle off a cross-ice backhand feed from Guenther.

The Avalanche cut their deficit to two when Malinski sent Ritchie on a breakaway where he scored with a backhand shot at 13:23 of the third.

Utah extended its lead to three at 17:58 with a short-handed empty-net goal from Jack McBain.

The Avalanche's next game is on Tuesday against the Vegas Golden Knights at 7:30 p.m. ET at Ball Arena. The game will be broadcast on TNT, TruTV, and will be streamed on Max.