Avalanche coach Patrick Roy put his top two lines together Sunday the way he envisions for the regular season and they didn't disappoint in the Burgundy and White Game at Magness Arena on the University of Denver campus.
The Ryan O'Reilly-Matt Duchene-Jarome Iginla unit was especially effective, combining for two goals and three assists in the White team's 4-3 win. Gabriel Landeskog set up Nathan MacKinnon for a second-period goal for the Burgundy team. The line's third member, Alex Tanguay, was robbed by goalie Roman Will with 37.5 seconds remaining in the third period.
"That's what we wanted and it was nice to see them play together," Roy said of the Duchene and MacKinnon lines. "I thought it was a great show for our fans. We moved the puck well. Quite honestly, from the start of camp I've loved the intensity our players have played with. We're very happy. I think everybody played really well."
Dennis Everberg and Michael Schumacher also scored goals for the White team, which took a 2-0 lead in the first period against goalie Semyon Varlamov, who faced 10 shots in his period of play.
"It was really fun," Duchene said. "Their team looked great too. Landy, Nate and Tangs were dangerous for them. It was a fun battle playing against them, very competitive. I thought both lines pushed each other and all the other guys played great too. It was a close game, what you want to see this time of year. It was a pretty intense game, a lot of hits. The glass broke a couple times. It was fun to get out there and play our real first game."
Defenseman Tyson Barrie, showing no ill effects from the knee injury he sustained in the playoffs against Minnesota, showed plenty of speed while scoring on a second-period breakaway at 8:34 against goalie Sami Aittokallio to cut the Burgundy deficit to 2-1. MacKinnon tied matters 2-2 at 12:22.
Andrew Agozzino gave the Burgundy team a 3-2 lead at 6:52 of the third period, but Schumacher tied the game 26 seconds later.
Duchene, who had a goal and an assist, broke the tie with 1:07 remaining in regulation against goalie Francois Tremblay. Iginla got the puck to O'Reilly, who sent a cross-ice pass to Duchene.
"The first goal, Dutchie created that pretty much out of nothing with his speed," Iginla said. "Factor, you can see he can pass as good as anyone and saucer it. I thought we had some plays. I thought in the third we started to get a little more rhythm and stuff. You're just trying to get better and build on whatever line combination I'm going to be with."
Iginla signed a three-year, $16 million contract as a free agent July 1 after scoring 30 goals for Boston last season. He certainly knows how to find the back of the net, having scored 560 goals in 17 NHL seasons.
"I've been here for a month and I'm getting to know the guys a little bit," Iginla said. "I like playing with Dutchie and Factor. They're skilled, they're quick, they create a lot and they've played together and have a great chemistry. I'd love to work with them and keep getting better. As the game went on we got better. I thought in the third period both teams found a little more speed and intensity. It's just exhibition, but you want to win.
"It's nice when you're joining a line when the other guys have played together because they know each other's tendencies. I'm learning, but if everyone's different we're all learning. You can tell they have a strong chemistry, they enjoy playing together. Getting a chance to play with them, yeah, you work through some tendencies and you talk a lot. Everybody does things a little bit different and it takes time.
"I've actually been skating with Dutchie the last few weeks and you can see his explosiveness and his creativity. If that's how the lines are going to go, I definitely feel fortunate. Whoever plays with Factor and Dutchie, they've had a lot of success."
Duchene had 23 goals and a career-high 70 points last season despite missing the final eight regular-season games with a knee injury that prevented him from playing in the first five playoff games against Minnesota. He skated free and easy Sunday, looking as smooth as ever.
"Factor and I obviously are familiar with each other and playing with Iggy was a lot of fun," Duchene said. "He sees the game similar to how Factor and I do in terms of making plays and things like that. I think there's a lot of similarities among the three of us. Factor and I can only be so lucky to get to the level that Jarome's got to in his career, but it's great to play with a player like that. What a great signing for our team.
"I thought we had a good game. There's some wrinkles to iron out still. It's a good start. I thought it was a strong game from a lot of guys. It was a lot of fun to play on the winning team."
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The Avalanche open preseason play Monday night with split-squad games against the Anaheim Ducks at the Pepsi Center and Honda Center.
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With occasional changes, these were the lines, defense pairings and goalies Sunday:
Burgundy team
Landeskog-MacKinnon-Tanguay Talbot-Briere-Bleackley Vincour-Street-Agozzino Bourke-Sgarbossa-Smith
Barrie-Wilson Holden-Redmond Siemens-Gervais
Varlamov-Pickard-Tremblay
White team
O'Reilly-Duchene-Iginla Cliche-Winchester-McLeod Carey-Hishon-Everberg Schumacher-Henley-Rendulic
Stuart-Johnson Hejda-Guenin Bigras-Noreau
Berra-Aittokallio-Will
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The Avalanche reduced the roster to 56 players Sunday.
Five players were reassigned to Lake Erie in the AHL: defensemen Gabriel Beaupre, Max Iafrate, Markus Lauridsen, Joey Leach and center Marcus Power. Five players were returned to their junior teams: left wing Oliver Cooper (Saint John, QMJHL), defenseman Duncan MacIntyre (Cape Breton, QMJHL), right wing Nick Magyar (Kitchener, OHL), goalie Spencer Martin (Mississauga, OHL) and defenseman Kyle Wood (North Bay, OHL). Defenseman Wilhelm Westlund was reassigned to Vita Hasten (Sweden).