Colorado Avalanche prospect Martin Kaut played his first NHL game on Wednesday night against the New York Islanders. His contribution was noticed and helped the team to a 3 -1 win.
There was an excitement in the air on Wednesday night at the Colorado Avalanche game at the Pepsi Center. Everyone wanted to see how prospect Martin Kaut handled his first NHL game. Colorado Eagles fans turned out to support ‘their’ player. Ryan Clarke said there is a “sense of ownership” from them.
Pretty sure Kaut was a little nervous coming out on the ice for his ‘Rookie Skate.’ It is the first time this fan has experience such a skate. I was sitting waiting for the Avalanche to come out on the ice for warmup, looked up and noticed one lone skater on the ice doing a couple of laps. It was Kaut.
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I’m not sure whether this adds to the tension of having a first NHL experience or makes a player feel a little less tense myself.
For the first period, he looked a little lost on the ice to me. Understandable. Their practice is just that, practice. Being involved in a game is something different. Sure he already plays hockey in the AHL, but NHL is a very different beast.
Watching him become acclimatized to the pace of the game and beginning to get ‘in the groove’ with the Avalanche play was great.
By the second period, he was more in the flow and played some great moments on the ice.
Kaut has done a lot right this period. Came close in the slot earlier and just missed a deflection goal. Not to mention the near 45 second battle along the boards that really pumped up that TOI.
— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) February 20, 2020
Evan Rawal commented on Twitter what a great play he contributed to. Kaut held a strong defensive stance to not let the Islanders player get the puck out of the zone. For us fans, it was a frustrating few minutes with a bunch of players, one of whom was Kaut in a tight huddle, right on the boards, with no sign of the puck coming loose.
He seemed to easily find his feet and came close on several occasions to scoring a goal.
Honestly with how he is skating I would give him some PP time and park his ass net front. He is tough to move from the few Eagles games I have been to
— Grumpy he/him (@Grumpy7447) February 20, 2020
He didn’t get any Special Teams time, which is understandable given it was his first game. Who knows what might happen in the next few games though. We know that Coach Bednar likes to change things up.
Kaut got to play a total of 7.47 minutes on the ice over 12 shifts. And he contributed to the team during that time. There was no puck for him at the end of the game, like Cale Makar in his first game, yet I’m sure it was just as memorable.
He made it. His dream came true of playing in the NHL. And to top, it all of it was on the winning team.
The Avalanche broke their losing streak beating the New York Islander 3 goals to 1. Pavel Francouz was so close to a shutout win, but unfortunately one got past him.
Colorado Eagles fans were super happy about Frankie’s effort because he belongs to their Eagles family too.
Family #GoAvsGo #EaglesCountry pic.twitter.com/qTmgE3OpV2
— Colorado Eagles (@ColoradoEagles) February 20, 2020
Although he’s one of my favourite Avalanche players at the moment, so not sure how much longer him being considered an Eagle will last. I don’t see him going back there anytime soon.
Let’s see how much if any, additional ice time Kaut gets in this upcoming away stand in the West against our two LA-based rivals, the Ducks and the Kings.