Rapid Recap: Golden Knights 7, Avalanche 4

The Colorado Avalanche fell 7-4 to the Vegas Golden Knights in the preseason at Ball Arena on Tuesday.
Mikko Rantanen and Andre Burakovsky were both playing in their first exhibition outings of the year and each skater scored twice in the outing. Nathan MacKinnon also made his preseason debut and had two assists.
Both of Rantanen's markers came on the power play. Colorado finished 3-for-4 on the man advantage as Andre Burakovsky also tallied with an extra skater on the ice.
Alec Martinez scored twice for Vegas while Peyton Krebs finished with four points (one goal, three assists) in the outing. Goaltender Logan Thompson played the entire contest and made 34 saves.

Pavel Francouz began the game in net for Colorado and made 18-of-20 saves before leaving the matchup with 10:11 remaining in the second period. Jonas Johansson entered the crease and had 13 saves.
Colorado has two contests remaining in the preseason, both against the Dallas Stars. The Avalanche visits Dallas on Thursday before hosting the Stars on Saturday.

THE GOALS

1st Period
3:26 VGK (0-1) - Keegan Kolesar scored with a wrist shot after a failed clear attempt from the Avalanche.
15:38 VGK (0-2) - Alex Pietrangelo passed the puck from the right circle through the slot to Alec Martinez who scored backdoor.
2nd Period
1:43 COL (1-2) - PPG, Mikko Rantanen took a pass from Nathan MacKinnon in the right circle and skated through the slot and found the back of the net.
15:22 VGK (1-3) - Reilly Smith's initial shot was stopped and then he scored off of his own rebound.
16:54 COL (2-3) - Andre Burakovsky cut Colorado's deficit in half with a shot from the right circle that hit twine stick side.
17:36 VGK (2-4) - William Karlsson scored with a wrist shot from the slot.
3rd Period
0:23 VGK (2-5) - PPG, The puck rebounded off the post to Alec Martinez who netted his second of the game.
1:27 VGK (2-6) - Jake Leschyshyn's shot from the top of the right circle deflected off Peyton Krebs' stick into the net.
7:03 COL (3-6) - PPG, Mikko Rantanen deflected a shot from Dennis Gilbert into the net on the power play.
11:56 COL (4-6) - PPG, Andre Burakovsky scored with a one-timer from the left circle on the power play.
18:45 VGK (4-7) - ENG, Jake Leschyshyn scored into an empty net.
Final: Golden Knights - 7 | Avalanche - 4

POWER PLAYS

Colorado:3 for 4
Vegas: 1 for 5

GOALTENDING BATTLE

Colorado: Pavel Francouz began the game and made 18-of-20 saves in 29:49 of play. Jonas Johansson entered the game and stopped 13 shots.
Vegas: Logan Thompson allowed four goals on 38 shots.

NOTEBOOK

Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Andre Burakovsky played in their first preseason outing of the year… The Avalanche finished its preseason back-to-back set. The squad is scheduled to play 11 total consecutive-night series this year... Colorado dropped both of its preseason games against Vegas and is now 1-3-0 through four exhibition games.

ROSTER REPORT

Colorado dressed a mixture of veterans and prospects for the outing. Forwards Shane Bowers, Mikhail Maltsev, Stefan Matteau, Kiefer Sherwood and Dylan Sikura and defensemen Justin Barron, Kurtis MacDermid, Roland McKeown and Ryan Murray played for the second-consecutive night as they also dressed in Monday's exhibition matchup at the Minnesota Wild.

INJURY REPORT

Pavel Francouz left the game with 10:11 left in the second period after an apparent lower-body injury… Cale Makar has been practicing in a red, non-contact jersey but is anticipated to be ready for the start of the year… Martin Kaut, who did not practice on Monday after leaving Sunday's practice early with an injury, participated in Tuesday's morning skate and is day-to-day… Defenseman Devon Toews (upper body) is expected to miss the beginning of the season while recovering from offseason surgery.

UP NEXT

Colorado finishes the preseason with two games against the Dallas Stars. The Avs will play in Dallas on Thursday before hosting the Stars at Ball Arena on Saturday.

LINE COMBINATIONS

Based on the start of the game
Forwards
75 Sampo Ranta - 29 Nathan MacKinnon - 96 Mikko Rantanen
13 Valeri Nichushkin - 91 Nazem Kadri - 95 Andre Burakovsky
22 Stefan Matteau - 15 Shane Bowers - 12 Jayson Megna
9 Dylan Sikura - 11 Mikhail Maltsev - 44 Kiefer Sherwood
Defensemen
28 Ryan Murray - 72 Justin Barron
48 Dennis Gilbert - 3 Jack Johnson
56 Kurtis MacDermid - 10 Roland McKeown
Goaltenders
39 Pavel Francouz
31 Jonas Johansson