Colorado Avalanche: 3 Trends to Watch in Preseason Game 2 vs Dallas

The Colorado Avalanche host the Dallas Stars as their 2019-20 preseason continues. Here are some trends to watch for.

The Colorado Avalanche are hosting the Dallas Stars for their second game of the preseason. This game is the first of two preseason matches between them.

Both teams are coming off of a preseason loss. Dallas lost 2-0 to the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues. The Avs got handed their, ah, lunch by the Vegas Golden Knights — 5-0.

Well, the preseason counts for nothing. Last year, Colorado dropped their first two contests and went on to have a playoff-worthy season. Three years ago, they won all their preseason games — before succumbing to the 48-Point Debacle.

Nonetheless, teams play these games for a reason, mostly to solidify game plans and make roster decisions. Well, concerning the latter, the Avs have already cut 10 players from the NHL team. They have about 24 more to go.

Some of those decisions will be made tonight.

So, let’s look at some trends to watch for in tonight’s game.

How to Enjoy the Game

Game time: Sept. 19, 7:00 pm MT
TV Networks: ALT*
Radio: Altitude Radio (FM 92.5/AM 950)

*At the time of writing, Altitude TV was essentially blacked out in all of Denver and most of the home market.

Goalie Trend

As I’m writing this, I don’t know who the goalie starter is going to be. AHL golaies Adam Werner and Hunter Miska shared the start in Tuesday night’s game. I don’t know if Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz will do the same.

If I had to bet, I’d guess Francouz will get the start so we can get a feeling for our backup ASAP.

Whomever gets the start, the trend we’ll want to watch for his how dominant he looks. Neither Werner nor Miska did himself and favors, but we should expect a little better from our NHL goalies.

Or, to determine if we even have two NHL goalies. Francouz is completely unproven in the NHL, and I’m a little worried about giving him 30+ starts next season. That’s why I’d like to see how this trend pans out.

Chemistry Trend

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Game 2 of the preseason might be too early for forward lines or defensive duos to start cementing. However, we already saw some flashes of chemistry in training camp. We’ll want to see if any of that carries through to games.

In training camp, everyone raved about how well Tyson Jost, Nazem Kadri, and Joonas Donskoi looked together. Jost played on Tuesday, so he’s unlikely to play tonight. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Donskoi and Kadri together tonight, perhaps with a prospect.

I’d also be excited to see Cale Makar and Samuel Girard paired up. C’mon — we all know that’s going to be a duo in the regular season!

Veteran Trend

In Game 1 of the preseason, we mostly saw the youngsters playing with a smattering of veterans and proven NHLers. I think Game 2 might be a chance for some of the regulars to get out and shake the offseason rust off.

We’ll be looking at some of our regulars and seeing how they might fare this season. We’ll probably also get a good look at some of the newbies, like the aforementioned Donskoi and Kadri plus Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare.

For defense, Erik Johnson and Ian Cole are still out. However, will Nikita Zadorov make is first appearance in the preseason?

5 Things I'd Like to See in the Preseason. dark. Next

After tonight, the Colorado Avalanche will be heading out on their first road trip of the preseason. They’ll be facing the (hated) Minnesota Wild in a home and home back-to-back series.

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