We start the three-game sweep of the NHL schedule in Denver, where the Colorado Avalanche hosted the Minnesota Wild and jumped out to a 3-0 lead after twenty minutes and appeared to have the game in hand.
Jarome Iginla, Erik Johnson and Gabriel Landeskog scored in the first to give the Avs the big lead.
Zach Parise scored early in the second to get the Wild on the board before the Avs got that back for a 4-1 lead in the game.
From there, Parise scored two more in lading the Wild back to a 5-4 win and stun the Avs in Denver.
“We moved it around really well right from the break,” Parise said of the winning goal. “A good bump back by Mikko [Koivu] to get it in the zone and we were able to get in our positions and set up. That’s how we’ve been practicing it.”
The Wild were running were around the ice with little effect as the Avs had the game under control and Semyon Varlamov was solid in net until the bottom the fell out.
“When you score four goals, those games you should win,” said Varlamov, who faced 10 shots in the third period and 30 overall. “There’s a time when the goalie has to step up and stop those shots, it doesn’t matter if they are tough ones or easy ones. I didn’t play well tonight. Five goals … I’m so [angry].”
Nino Niederreiter and Thomas Vanek also scored for the Wild.
Devan Dubnyk was slow in the first period assault but recovered over the final 40 minutes of play to give the Wild the chance to win.
“We weren’t on for sure,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “It looked like the type of game you play after a weeklong break after you play a couple of — I hate to say it — easy exhibition games. We pretty much kind of sleepwalked through the first two periods. It felt like once they got up they really tried to run at us and that kind of woke our guys up.”
Needless to say Patrick Roy was displeased with his club’s performance.
“We were really, really good for what, 45 minutes? Even at the start of the third I thought we were solid, kept the puck deep, and all of a sudden they scored that second goal and the momentum shifted and we just couldn’t stop it,” he said. “It’s a good team and they certainly deserve what they did in the last 15 minutes.”
In Dallas, the Stars new goalie, Antti Niemi, made 37 saves in his debut and shutout the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-0.
“I thought he looked quick, nothing went through him, and then he made a couple really good saves right at the end of the game to put the icing on the cake,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said.
Niemi was supported by goals from Mattias Janmark, Ales Hemsky and Jamie Benn; for Janmark it was his first as an NHLer.
“I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be,” Janmark said. “Everything is pretty quick and playing the preseason games has almost been like playing the regular-season games, so I guess I kind of learned from that.”
Marc-Andre Fleury took the loss on 21 saves.
“We wanted to stay focused on keeping it simple, getting pucks there and trying to outnumber them around the net,” Ruff said of the Dallas power play. “We battled hard to get some pucks back, which keeps the power play alive.”
The Penguins thought they had the better of play throughout the game but gave big opportunities to the Stars.
“Yeah, we had some decent looks,” Sidney Crosby said. “I thought we gave up a few kind of big chances you don’t want to give up but still had our fair share of chances. Obviously, special teams, as we know, is really important. We gave a couple up on the power play.”
In St Louis, Blues rookie Robby Fabbri scored his first NHL goal, the game-winner, in a 3-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers who debuted their own rookie, Connor McDavid.
“I can’t really remember, but it was a great feeling,” Fabbri said. “Getting in that huddle there with the guys (celebrating the goal) felt great.
“I came off the bench and I saw the play there. I wasn’t sure if [Lehtera] saw or heard me, so for him to make that play, it was an amazing pass.”
Vladimir Tarasenko and Troy Brouwer also scored for the Blues in the win.
“All the talk that you have, all the preparation that you have for exhibition, you don’t really know the level until you experience it,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “I thought where we turned the game around a little bit was in the second half of the second period. We started to really check and create turnovers and really got after them a little bit and started to put a bunch of shots up. We really started to check in the second period and that kind of turned the momentum for us a little bit.”
The Oilers’ lone goal came from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins; it was more an “own goal” than an Oilers marker.
Cam Talbot took the loss with 28 saves; he had to be on his game early and often as the Oilers again looked disorganized in their own zone. In the defensive zone, the Oilers have their backs to the puck most of the time.
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