For the second time in less than a week, the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars played each other in another preseason matchup. Dallas would end up winning this game with a final score of 4-2. Let’s break down all of tonight’s action.

First period

There are three constants in life; Death, taxes and Matt Duchene’s goal for the Avs. And that’s exactly who scored first in this game. This game initially began in Colorado’s offensive zone. During this play, there were four Colorado players deep in the zone attempting to pass the puck, leaving one defenseman at the top of the zone alone to defend, resulting in a three-on-one duel. Overall, it was just a bad defensive breakdown that led to this goal.

Second period

Good things take time, but not much time in this case as Ivan Ivan tied the score for the Avs at 3:08 of the second period. Colorado would finally get a power play, and this play would start with Sam Malinski controlling the puck at the top of the zone, eventually passing it to Jere Innala, who would then pass it to Nikolai Kovalanko. In the end, Ivan sneaked into the net through the back door, and it rarely gets any easier.

Dallas didn’t respond long afterward, however, as Tyler Seguin gave the Stars a 2-1 lead. This game would start with a faceoff in Colorado’s defensive zone, which Dallas would win. Thomas Harley then took the puck and circled around the back of the net, drawing the attention of the Avs players. Seguin crawled to the front of the net, and no Avalanche player would pick him up until it was already too late.

The Avalanche responded quickly as Parker Kelly scored his first goal of the preseason after a great pass from Kovalanko. Kovalenko would bring the puck into the Stars’ offensive zone and then drag two Dallas defensemen with him. He was able to maintain control of the puck and found Kelly as it flew into the zone and to the top of the Dallas net when no one picked it up.

Third period

Kevin Mandolese would come on for the rest of the game midway through the second period and get some reps after Alexandar Georgiev got some time, similar to what we saw the other night. Duchene continued his habit of scoring against Colorado, giving the Stars a 3-2 lead less than a minute into the period. Seguin set up Duchene for the goal with a great pass, and Duchene pushed the puck past Mandolese.

The Stars would also score an empty goal, making the final score 4-2.

Take away

Just like the last preseason game, this game has no significance in the grand scheme of things. Especially considering the fact that Dallas fielded a pretty strong NHL regulars roster compared to Colorado tonight. That being said, there were some arguably significant takeaways when it comes to which guys actually make Colorado’s roster.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the evening was that Nikolai Kovalenko had a really great evening. He finished the game with two assists that night, and what pretty plays were they? The skill was certainly there for Kovalanko from the start, but in both games so far you could see his hockey intelligence clearly on display, as evidenced by the pass he made to set up Parker Kelly for the second goal. It will be incredibly interesting to see how Kovalenko looks with Colorado’s NHL regulars, assuming he gets some time with them in a game later in the preseason.

Soon

Colorado gets its first look at the Utah Hockey Club this year on Sunday, September 29th. Puck drop takes place at 5:00 p.m. MT.