Avalanche goalie Vitaly Kolesnik allowed three nonshootout goals Thursday, each within the opening five minutes of the first two periods.
The quick strikes aren’t the ideal way to earn the role as David Aebischer’s backup.
However, the Kazakhstan- born Kolesnik, who signed as a free agent in August four days before his 26th birthday, was perfect against the Los Angeles Kings through the remainder of regulation and the five-minute overtime at the Pepsi Center. He stopped L.A.’s final 22 shots before giving up a shootout goal by Valeri Bure that ended up giving the Kings a 4-3 victory, pinning Colorado with its first loss in four exhibition games.
Avs coach Joel Quenneville summed up Kolesnik’s performance as “OK,” which is probably similar to what the goalie would say if he could speak a lick of English.
“I thought he got better as the game went on, and I liked the way he challenged (shooters),” said Quenneville, whose first Avs team has its final tuneup Saturday at Dallas. “But obviously for his first game here . . . and the new game and the atmosphere here, I thought he did OK.”
The 6-foot-2, 198-pound Kolesnik, accustomed to the larger Olympic-size ice surface, is competing for the backup job with Peter Budja. Kolesnik has allowed four goals in 90 regulation minutes; Budja three goals in 91 minutes.
Quenneville said the job remains up for grabs.
The war of words between former Kings teammates Ian Laperriere and Sean Avery took a surprising turn. Laperriere, a proud French-Canadian winger now with the Avs, failed for the second time in five days to get Avery to fight him. Laperriere and Avery, from Ontario, never got along as teammates and Laperriere took exception to Avery’s recent comment about French-Canadian players with visors not backing up rugged play.
“He’s been mouthing off that he’s going to get me all training camp,” Laperriere said. “He had his chance in Vegas and he had his chance tonight. You know what really gets me is, that’s exactly what he wants. He wants us to talk about him. I’m playing right into his game.”
Laperriere’s intention was to settle the dispute on the ice. He never got that opportunity because of Avery’s unwillingness to fight, but another French-Canadian in an Avs sweater, gifted playmaker Alex Tanguay, made it a good night for Laperriere.
Tanguay’s crushing hit on Avery in the third period sent Tanguay to the penalty box for boarding. But Laperriere and even Quenneville said it was a deserving hit.
“I didn’t see it, right by our bench, but it was nice – I heard a lot of noise,” Laperriere said. “Maybe (Tanguay) took it personal, (being) a French-Canadian player with a shield.”
Said Quenneville: “I thought it was great hit, a fair hit.”
New Avs forward Brad May scored the game’s first goal 2:11 into the game, and Joe Sakic and Pierre Turgeon added second- period power-play goals, the latter tying it at 3.
Tanguay, Jason Krog and Sakic failed to score in the shootout, and former Colorado College star and L.A.-area native Noah Clarke and Mike Cammalleri were stopped by Kolesnik.
Clarke, a 2003 NCAA All-American at CC who was drafted in the ninth round by the Kings in 1999, produced an assist in 17:38 of ice time.
Los Angeles 1 2 0 0 – 4
Colorado 1 2 0 0 – 3
First period – 1, Colorado, May 1 (Liles, Vaananen), 2:11. 2, Los Angeles, Cowan 2 (Avery, Belanger), 4:13.
Second period – 3, Colorado, Sakic 3 (Brisebois, Liles), 0:25 (pp). 4, Los Angeles, Kostopoulos 2 (Cammalleri, Clarke), 1:39. 5, Los Angeles, Avery 2 (Cowan, Giuluano), 2:40. 6, Colorado, Turgeon 1 (Tanguay, Sakic), 8:48 (pp).
Third period – None.
Overtime – None.
Shootout – Los Angeles 1 (Valeri Bure G, Noah Clarke NG, Michael Cammalleri NG); Colorado 0 (Alex Tanguay NG, Jason Krog NG, Joe Sakic NG).
Shots on goal – Los Angeles 9-13-9-4-35. Colorado 12-14-7-1-34.
Goalies – Los Angeles, Garon. Colorado, Kolesnik. A – 18,007.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-820-5453 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
