Golden Knights welcome new goalie with preseason win over Avs
The Golden Knights and Avalanche agreed to have a shootout after Tuesday’s preseason game regardless of the outcome.
Jonathan Marchessault made sure it was only for practice.
The winger converted on a power play with 4:10 remaining to give the Knights a 4-3 victory over Colorado at T-Mobile Arena.
Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo tallied the tying goal at 7:44 of the third period for the Knights about a minute after defenseman Jack Johnson put the Avalanche ahead 3-2.
“We didn’t want to lose two games in a row,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “I think up until that point in the game, those veteran guys had it in a little bit of cruise control and decided they were going to find a way to make sure that we didn’t lose that game.”
Goaltender Laurent Brossoit made his Knights debut in front of an announced crowd of 16,867 and was boosted by a penalty kill that went 6-for-6.
Patrick Brown and Nic Hague (power play) scored in the first period to stake the Knights to a 2-1 lead. The Knights finished 2-for-4 with the man advantage.
This was the first meeting between the teams since the Knights eliminated Colorado in six games in the West Division final.
Colorado was without several of its top players, including Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar.
“It’s always fun to do that in front of our fans here and it’s a good time to learn how to close out those games,” Hague said. “This is the time to work out the kinks if there’s any and go out and definitely get that winning feeling.”
Here are three takeaways:
1. New face in net
The scouting report on Brossoit when the Knights signed him as a free agent this offseason was that he is cool, calm and composed in the crease.
“I thought that’s what we saw tonight,” DeBoer said.
Brossoit finished with 19 saves, including a key stop on Artem Anisimov with about 8:45 left in the second period. He also turned away three of the five attempts in the shootout, which Colorado won 2-1.
“It was obviously great with a win,” Brossoit said. “It’s just great to be back out there on the ice playing. The crowd was loud, the team played well. It was a good, solid effort all around and a good experience.”
2. Dilly, dilly
Defenseman Peter DiLiberatore had a strong rookie tournament and appears to have carried that over to main training camp.
He skated with touted rookie Kaedan Korczak against the Avalanche and was one of the Knights’ most active defensemen until taking two hooking penalties later in the game.
In 19:55 of ice time, DiLiberatore finished with a team-high five shots on goal, though he had a minus-1 rating.
DiLiberatore appeared in 13 games for the Silver Knights after his junior year at Quinnipiac. With Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore nursing injuries, DiLiberatore is one of the players getting an extended look on the blue line.
“I think this team’s set up with young defensemen for a few years here,” DeBoer said. “(Dylan) Coghlan’s going to be a real good NHL player. It looks to me like Korczak is for sure. And DiLiberatore looks like he’s got the potential to be, too. There’s a lot of good young defensemen there when you’re watching.”
3. Second chances
DeBoer said he wants everyone to feel at the end of training camp as if they had an opportunity to win a roster spot. To that end, forwards Jack Dugan, Brett Howden and Peyton Krebs were given the chance to impress by playing a second straight game.
But the three struggled as a line, and didn’t have a shot attempt until Howden’s drive from a steep angle with 3:42 left in the second period. They finished with three of the Knights’ 29 shots.
Individually, none of the three did much individually to help their causes.
Krebs improved his puck management from the opener but was unable to slow down Valeri Nichushkin near the blue line on a zone entry leading to the first Avalanche goal. Dugan’s play without the puck remains an issue.
“I thought (Krebs) was smarter with his decisions tonight,” DeBoer said. “And Jack Dugan for me is an interesting player. When the puck’s on his stick, he can create offense. You saw it on the power play. He made some plays five-on-five the other night off the rush. It’s the other parts of the game that he has to continue to work at.”
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
