Golden Knights suffer 1st preseason loss, fall to Avalanche, 4-1
Had this been the regular season, the Golden Knights’ 4-1 loss to Colorado on Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena would have raised a few red flags.
Instead, the biggest concern was the health of Knights defensemen Shea Theodore and Zach Whitecloud, who each missed the third period.
“It’s an exhibition game, and we wanted to make sure they’re OK,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “We’ll know more (Thursday), but basically day to day.”
Matt Calvert had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who won despite icing an inexperienced team.
Here’s what we learned from the Knights’ loss:
1. Spotlight shines on “Group of Five”
Assistant coach Mike Kelly recently used that phrase to describe the crop of rookie defensemen competing to make the Knights’ 23-man roster, and it seems like an appropriate nickname.
Jake Bischoff, Dylan Coghlan, Nic Hague, Jimmy Schuldt and Zach Whitecloud all were in the lineup against the Avalanche, though none had what could be considered a signature moment with another round of cuts looming.
Bischoff played a team-high 23:46 and registered a plus-1 rating as the Knights were forced to go with four defensemen in the third period.
Schuldt made a glaring error in the first period when he was caught up ice and couldn’t recover in time on the backcheck to prevent Matt Calvert’s wrister from the slot that put Colorado ahead 1-0.
“Everyone’s just battling as hard as they can,” Schuldt said. “There’s pressure, but you just try to put that in the back of your head and play.”
Hague was victimized by Colorado forward Jayson Megna for the Avalanche’s fourth goal. Not a good look.
“Everybody had a bad game tonight,” Gallant said. “It was tough to watch, obviously. It was a team loss, like when we win it’s a team win. It’s going to be tough. It’s getting down to the last three or four days and we have to make a tough decision.”
2. Offense goes missing
It’s difficult to find positives from a group that generated 17 shots and was nearly shut out by a goaltender (Pavel Francouz) with two career NHL appearances.
William Karlsson was not in the lineup after participating in the morning skate, giving Cody Glass an opportunity to play first-line minutes at center between Brandon Pirri and Valentin Zykov.
But the 20-year-old Glass, who is hoping to start the season in the NHL, was unable to put his stamp on the proceedings and finished with one shot on goal. He also struggled in the faceoff circle, losing eight of 10.
“It was a scrambly game,” Glass said. “It was hard to create chances 5-on-5.”
3. Lackluster effort
The Knights had been undefeated in the preseason at 4-0, but Gallant noted his team didn’t have any “zip” from the opening faceoff, which is surprising considering the number of players battling for roster spots.
Nicolas Roy, who is battling for the fourth-line center job, picked up an assist but was on the ice for the first two Avalanche goals.
Bubble players Reid Duke and Keegan Kolesar were quiet, though Patrick Brown helped his cause by scoring with 17 seconds remaining.
“It wasn’t one of them, it wasn’t two of them. It was a total team effort,” Gallant said. “We’ve had a great preseason so far, so I’m not going to put too much into it. It happens.”
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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.