Mark Barberio: "We're hockey players, and we hear what people say"

With a few snips of the scissors, Mark Barberio went from heavy metal to high and tight. For those Colorado Avalanche fans who grooved on Barberio’s long, flowing mane last season, sorry. Most of it wound up on the floor of some barbershop out there this summer.

“Just a new look, you know? Changing things up a little,” Barberio said.

Barberio, though, doesn’t plan on his play taking on a correspondingly more conservative look. In his first action of the preseason Thursday night, the former Montreal Canadien continued on with the aggressive style he showed after being claimed on waivers last February.

Barberio was just one of many Avs players who looked great in their 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars at the Pepsi Center, which evened Colorado’s preseason record at 1-1. He had a first-period assist and was strong in his own end, along with defensive partner Chris Bigras.

Probably slotted as a top-4 defenseman with the Avs, Barberio didn’t sound like he was just blowing smoke when he said the team will be better defensively than the league-worst group of last year. Barberio wasn’t too thrilled with some of the stuff he read from the puck peanut gallery who said the ‘A’ on their uniforms will again stand for “awful.”

“We’re hockey players and we hear what people say,” Barberio said. “We can definitely use it as motivation. It’s about pride with us and it’s about coming in and proving everybody wrong. Yeah, we’re going to be young, we’re going to be more youthful, but we’re also going to be hungry.”

Barberio, who has 193 games of NHL experience with the Avs, Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning, wants to be a two-way presence for the Avs. He has shown no hesitation at pinching offensively went necessary, but with this team he knows taking care of play in his own end is Job One.

“The better you are in your own end, the more you get to play at the other end,” Barberio said. “And, it’s more fun to play at the other end.”

NOTEBOOK: 

• Rookie hopeful Sergei Boikov suffered a shoulder injury in the first period after a big hit from Dallas forward Remi Elie and left the game for good. There was no indication yet how serious the injury is.
• Tyson Jost has yet to play in the preaseason, still sidelined by a groin injury. The team continues to say he’s day-to-day.
• The Avs’ power play was sensational against the Stars, with crisp, fast puck movement throughout and two goals in the first 40 minutes as a result. Sven Andrighetto, on a perfect cross pass from Bigras, scored to make it 2-0 at 4:03 of the first and Alex Kerfoot tipped in a David Warsofsky shot to make it 4-0 at 2:47 of the second. Warsofsky looked excellent throughout. He hasn’t gotten much publicity so far in camp, but he’s got 39 games of NHL experience on his resume, including seven last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Warsofsky is a former captain at Boston University.
• Semyon Varlamov went the distance in net for the Avs. He didn’t have to work too hard, but looked good when he did.
• Nail Yakupov had a great Avs preseason debut, notching three assists. Probably his best was a third-period lead pass to Matt Duchene, who buried a wrister home from the left circle to make it 5-0. Duchene got a big ovation from the crowd after the goal. Duchene, by the way, wore an ‘A’ as an alternate captain.
• Rookie A.J. Greer, who has been dealing with a bad hand in camp, appeared to hurt himself in a third-period fight. He immediately left the ice for the dressing room. Greer hurt his hand at the Rookie Showcase in San Jose.
• Andrighetto took a cheap shot to the face late in the game, from the Stars’ Curtis McKenzie. Andrighetto played on, however.