Avs Talk - A Colorado Avalanche Blog

The Avalanche defeated the Kings 6-3 in their first home preseason game which saw Ryan Smyth and Scott Hannan make their hometown debut. Joe Sakic, Andrew Brunette, Brett Clark and John-Michael Liles were also in the lineup while Milan Hejduk, Marek Svatos, Tyler Arnason and Jordan Leopold were the big names sitting out.

Michael Wall backed up Peter Budaj but did not see any action as Budaj saved 17 of 20 shots for the win. J.S. Aubin and Jason Labarbera split time for the Kings.

Paul Stastny notched 2 goals and 2 assists and T.J. Hensick also lit the lamp twice. Andrew Brunette put up 1 goal and 3 assists, Ryan Smyth scored once and Joe Sakic had 2 assists. Hlinka put up another assist as he continues to impress.

Sakic, Smyth and Brunette played together most of the night on the number 1 line and put up 7 points in total. It's almost a lock now that this will be the #1 line combo come the season opener.

Ian Lapperriere and Dale Purinton both got into scraps tonight. Purinton got the quadruple smash with 2 minutes for instigating, 5 for fighting, a 10 minute misconduct and a game misconduct.

Media Reviews
Avalanche.nhl.com Recap
Denver Post Recap
NHL.com Recap
TSN.ca Recap