Avalanche Rookies Have Full Team Practice in Arizona

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.-- After a loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Friday, the Colorado Avalanche rookies hit the ice for a full-team practice between tournament games. It was only the third practice with all players, and the team was willing to get to work to improve upon its game. The squad took the opportunity during the Saturday skate to work on several different on-ice scenarios, concluding the session with special-teams work. Special teams was a key component after Friday evening's contest as penalty minutes between both teams totaled 26 minutes of gameplay.
Another component of the on-ice session at the Ice Den in Scottsdale, Arizona was battles in front of the net. The matchup against the King's showed a discrepancy of almost half between Los Angeles' 47 shots on goal and Colorado's 23. After the outing on Friday, Newhook noted the Kings' strengths in his postgame presser

"I think they did a good job of getting to the net, I think at times we kinda struggled with tying them up in front," said Newhook. "I think they got a lot of chances in and around our net, something we can clean up for next game."
One drill in front of the net focused specifically on just that, with defensemen doing barrel rolls on the ice and utilizing explosive energy to get back up off the ice and into gameplay. The defensive pairs were also switched up from the team's prior practice on Thursday, but Nate Clurman and Bowen Byram who had been paired together on Friday's contest were again together. During the skate, Nick Henry also was a full participant for the first time after wearing a red no-contact sweater in the week prior.
The club returns to the ice to face the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday at 5 p.m. MT. The contest will be streamed live for free at ColoradoAvalanche.com (blackouts apply to out of market).
Practice Line Combinations
15 Shane Bowers - 18 Alex Newhook - 27 Oskar Olausson
75 Sampo Ranta - 93 Jean-Luc Foudy - 74 Alex Beaucage
58 Matt Boucher - 51 Ryan Hofer - 86 Sasha Mutala
63 Andras Wingerli - 64 Benjamin Tardif - 57 Tarun Fizer
54 Matej Kaslik - 53 Jack O'Brien - 68 Callahan Burke - 70 Nick Henry
4 Bowen Byram - 84 Nate Clurman
72 Justin Barron - 45 Charle-Edouard D'Astous
46 Miles Gendron - 47 Graham Sward
89 Nicolas Savoie - 55 Rhett Rhinehart
62 Mitchell Smith
60 Justus Annunen
50 Trent Miner
42 Peyton Jones