The Colorado Avalanche played the final home preseason game on their schedule tonight as they welcomed in the hated Minnesota Wild for another tilt. The first period would look awfully familiar to previous versions of this matchup as the Wild absolutely dominated the Avalanche all over the ice, leading the period 13-2 in shots on goal.
Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov slammed the door shut, however, and kept the game a scoreless tie heading into the second period. Once there, the Avalanche quickly found their legs, closing the shots gap and dominating the period throughout.
The hard work would pay off when Jarome Iginla made a great cross-ice pass to Chris Bigras, who was alone on the doorstep and slammed home a one-timer behind a diving Darcy Kuemper for the 1-0 lead at the 9:18 mark of the period.