My Avalanche season preview is on NHL.com, along with three keys to success.
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The most impressive part of the Avalanche's preseason with one game remaining has been the play of backup goalie Reto Berra and the most disappointing an offense that can't find the back of the net.
Go figure.
"A lot of people had a question mark on (Berra) and I think he did exactly what he had to do to make everybody comfortable and believe in him and trusting him whenever (Semyon Varlamov) is going to have to take a night off," coach Patrick Roy told the Denver Post. "He'll be able to give us some good hockey."
The Avalanche will take an 0-5-2 record into Saturday night's game against Los Angeles at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas -- televised on the NHL Network -- in the final tuneup before next Thursday's regular-season opener at Minnesota.
Varlamov will get the start in goal and maybe his teammates will find a way to score as many as three goals, something they failed to do in any of the previous seven games.
The Avalanche have scored eight goals -- as many as two three times -- while allowing 20, not counting the goal awarded to the Kings for winning Thursday's shootout 2-1 at the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs.
Ryan O'Reilly has two goals while Gabriel Landeskog, Max Talbot, Alex Tanguay, Tyson Barrie, Erik Johnson and Zach Redmond each have one.
These games don't count, but as Landeskog has mentioned a few times, it's not so easy to "flip the switch" once the season starts. The Avalanche played pretty well Thursday after a poor first period in which Berra stopped 19 of 20 shots, but they couldn't get the go-ahead goal against Jonathan Quick and Martin Jones, who relieved Quick after the second period.
"It sucks every time you lose a hockey game, but for us it certainly was a step forward," Landeskog told reporters. "I think if we play this way come October 9th, I think it will be a bright future this season."
Berra stopped 42 of 43 shots through overtime, his third consecutive solid game after he gave up goals on the first two shots he faced in a 4-0 split-squad loss in Anaheim on Sept. 22. The 6-foot-4 goalie turned aside 97 of 102 shots in his final three preseason starts, a .951 save percentage.
"He really showed improvement over the offseason," Landeskog said. "He came to camp in great shape and he certainly has played well."
As for the Avalanche offense ...
"That's been an issue in every preseason game, putting the puck in the net," O'Reilly said. "Hopefully by the time the regular season comes we'll have changed that. For us, the main thing is taking care of our own end first and being smart within our system. The goals will come.
"We've been a little inconsistent. We've had times in games where we've been smart, doing the little things right, and then we'll have a couple little mental errors. That's definitely something we can fix."