Avalanche down Stars to stay unbeaten in preseason

The Colorado Avalanche hit the night for a second consecutive night as they welcomed in the visiting Dallas Stars for the team’s second preseason game. After defeating the Minnesota Wild 4-1 last night, a mostly fresh lineup would take the ice against the Stars and the game would have the look of fresh legs as there was plenty of up-and-down action early.

The Avalanche would get the period’s lone goal when newcomer Joe Whitney would receive a beautiful cross-ice pass from Tyson Barrie and fire it past Stars goaltender Antti Niemi at the 8:58 mark, giving Colorado the 1-0 lead they would take into the second period.

The second period would start with about as many fireworks as you could imagine early on as Stars forward Radek Faksa would score just seven seconds into the period to tie the game on a shot that beat Avs goaltender Calvin Pickard. Just seconds later, old blood would boil to the surface as Jarome Iginla and Antoine Roussel would drop the gloves and punch things out.

The action would repeat itself a few minutes later as Faksa scored his second of the game on a puck that hit something and fluttered over top of Pickard and into the net. Just minutes later, Cody McLeod would reintroduce himself to former Avalanche defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk with a huge hit behind the Avalanche net, receiving a charging penalty and a fight with Adam Cracknell in the process. The Stars would dominate the second period and take their 2-1 lead into the third.

Looking like a team that got chewed out during intermission, the Avalanche came out with plenty of jump and Gabriel Bourque would crash the Stars net and get the puck to Francois Beauchemin, who scored easily into an open net after a goalmouth scramble left Niemi’s replacement, Philippe Desrosiers, out of the net and brought the game level at two apiece just 13 seconds into the frame.

A couple of new guys would combine to give the Avs lead late in the third period as Jim O’Brien would wait out the defense and throw a shot on net that Ben Smith would tip into the net to make it 3-2 with under five minutes to play.

A Patrick Wiercioch empty-net goal would bring the game to the final score of 4-2 in favor of Colorado..

THREE STARS

1. Ben Smith
2. Radek Faksa
3. Samuel Henley

PLAY OF THE GAME

The Ben Smith game-winning goal took the Avalanche from tied to winning as the potential overtime loomed. His tip-in on a weak shot from Jim O’Brien would give Colorado a lead they would not relinquish.

TURNING POINT

Francois Beauchemin’s goal 13 seconds into the third period immediately erased the bad taste of the second period and tied the game, changing the entire complexion of the game’s final frame.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Avalanche were outshot 31-20 overall and the Stars led every period in shots on goal.

There was a clear gap in which defensemen saw the ice as Barrie, Beauchemin, Wiercioch, and Tyutin all had at least 27 shifts, compared to just 17 and 23 for Sergei Boikov and Anton Lindholm, respectively.

While Henley was recognized by his coach postgame, he saw just 8:03 of even strength ice time. He did, however, see 3:35 of short-handed TOI.

QUOTE OF THE GAME

“It was cool. I liked it.” – new head coach on his first game in the Pepsi Center

LASTING IMPACT

It’s a preseason game.

WHAT’S NEXT

Colorado’s next preseason game is on Friday, September 30. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. local time.