The Colorado Avalanche lost its first pre-season game 4-3 to the Minnesota Wild but head coach Jared Bednar liked how some of his lines played.
Despite the fact that the Colorado Avalanche lost its first pre-season game to the Minnesota Wild, head coach Jared Bednar liked what he saw out of some of his top two lines.
The top line was Ross Colton at center with Miles Wood and Tomas Tatar on the wings.
"We got some looks, we got some chances, thought we could score a few goals," Tomas Tatar said after the 4-3 loss.
Even though it was an odd game with a lot of penalties, Tatar believes that line has "something to build on."
Colorado's coach had said the first couple exhibition games were more for evaluation and that's what he did in Sunday's game.
"I thought they were good. I liked all three of those guys," Bednar said. "Again, there's some physicality to their game, they were able to produce scoring chances."
Miles Wood said he felt good playing the game. He was surprised at the number of fans in the building, and said that it was great to see that.
"I felt good out here today. Putting on the sweater for the first time was a great feeling for me personally," Wood said. "It's a new chapter in my life, my career — I was just happy to be out there."
Bednar was also impressed with the play of his second line — Fredrik Olofsson at center with Ryan Tufte and Joel Kiviranta on wings.
"Same thing with the Olofsson line. Tufte and Kiviranta, I thought those guys had a really good night as well," Bednar said. "You can tell they're just a little bit more seasoned than some of the other guys but they play with a physical edge to their game, they're competitive on pucks, they were a pretty connected group."
Justus Annunen started in net but only played half the game before Arvid Holm came in to play the other half. The Avalanche outshot the Wild 43-25 and had more scoring chances than their opponent, but couldn't get the puck in the net.
The Avalanche play the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night back at Ball Arena. Bednar didn't say who he will be playing, but we'll most likely see some other new guys on the ice.