Avs head coach Jared Bednar told the media after Wednesday's practice that he's been pleased with the chemistry his forward combinations have already built, and that's been evident by the little change he's made to the groups in the first two weeks of training camp.
"We like the balance that we have with all of our lines right now," Bednar said. "We think all of them have the ability to produce offensively."
That will once again be the case when Colorado faces off against Vegas at T-Mobile Arena. The Avs' top two lines include Nathan MacKinnon centering wingers Sven Andrighetto and Mikko Rantanen, and Matt Duchene leading a unit with Alexander Kerfoot and Nail Yakupov.
The Andrighetto-MacKinnon-Rantanen combo remains unchanged from the one that the Avalanche used at the end of last season. The trio was one of the more successful groupings in the league with Andrighetto finishing with 16 points (five goals and 11 assists) in 19 games after March 1, MacKinnon going on to lead the Avs in scoring with 53 points (16 goals and 37 assists) and Rantanen tallying 20 goals, the most on the team.
The early results in the preseason have been just as positive. The three skaters have already combined for seven goals in three games.
Colorado's second line has developed into a nice trio as well, with the talented Duchene and Yakupov leading the way. Kerfoot has been taken along for the ride with the combo, and it has resulted in him being second on the Avalanche in preseason scoring with four points (two goals and two assists) in three contests.
It's been a nice learning experience for the 23-year-old Avs rookie, who is looking to break into the NHL after a four-year college career at Harvard.
"They prepare themselves really well, and just watching them play in the games, they're really skilled," Kerfoot said of Duchene and Yakupov. "They know what to do on the ice. They're smart hockey players and really skilled hockey players, and I'm just trying to learn from them and get better every day."
The Avalanche's third line has Gabriel Landeskog and Colin Wilson on the wings of center J.T. Compher. The trio was put together after Wilson was cleared to practice after being out with an injury, and they played with one another in Sunday's exhibition at Minnesota.
Colorado's depth in its top-nine has forced Bednar to put rookie Tyson Jost as the fourth-line center with Matt Nieto and Carl Soderberg. Not an ideal spot for a young player, but a good problem to have for the club at this time of the year.
"I'll say this, I'm cautiously optimistic about our forward group," Bednar said. "We still haven't played a full NHL roster so how all these guys are as individuals and us as a group fare, it's tough to say. Some of these guys are young guys, they're breaking into the league, they're energetic, but the consistency of it is important. It's good to have depth.
"I think we have options with line combinations and guys we can move around and help motivate our top six forwards. There are other guys that can step in if you're not at your best and we have guys that we can place in there for you, whether that is in-game or game-by-game to help keep the production going offensively."
On defense against the Golden Knights, the Avs will pair veterans with prospects. Erik Johnson and Anton Lindholm will man the top unit, while Tyson Barrie and Chris Bigras, and Nikita Zadorov and David Warsofsky will make up the other two pairings.
Colorado's healthy defensive scratches include Mark Barberio, Andrei Mironov and Duncan Siemens. Gabriel Bourque and Carl Soderberg will sit among the forward group.
Bednar implied on Wednesday that the scratched players for the final exhibition outing doesn't mean they're on the outside track of making the opening-night roster. It is just that the Avs staff wants to get one more look at a few other players.
All of Thursday night's scratches have already played in at least three preseason outings.
"We're watching these exhibition games closely and picking back through them in video to make sure we're positive in what we're seeing with all of these guys," Bednar said. "There are some tough decisions to be made, and we have one more exhibition game to keep evaluating and then by next Tuesday we got to get down to our roster."
Goaltender Semyon Varlamov is expected to start in the crease for the Avalanche versus the Knights while Joe Cannata will serve as his backup. Jonathan Bernier is still day-to-day with a groin injury he suffered in Monday's contest at Dallas.
