Prospects Impress In Avs’ Win Over Sharks

WESTMINSTER, Colo.—The nerves were evident early on for the Colorado Avalanche prospects in the first game of the Rookie Showcase. Once those butterflies subsided, the young players found their groove.

The Avs defeated their peers from the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Saturday afternoon at the Ice Centre at the Promenade, and the Colorado players that are expected to compete for a spot on the team’s opening night roster looked impressive.

“You saw the intensity with the competition, but also players wanting to make a statement,” said Avalanche assistant general manager Craig Billington after the game. “There is a new coaching staff for the most part, and they want to impress. I was pleased with the effort they gave.”

Colorado’s rookie roster includes prospects throughout its system, but the three young players that saw NHL time last season and the several others that signed entry-level contracts in the offseason made the most noise.

Chris Bigras, Mikko Rantanen and Nikita Zadorov all played games down the road at Pepsi Center in 2015-16 and picked up points in their first competition of the new campaign. Defensemen Bigras and Zadorov tallied goals, while Rantanen had a nice assist on AJ Greer’s second period score.

JT Compher also found the back of the net and had an assist in his first game in an Avalanche uniform after three years at the University of Michigan.

The play of Bigras, Rantanen and Zadorov isn’t surprising. There’s a reason why the trio appeared in NHL contests. But for players like Compher and Greer to impress in their first game action with an Avalanche uniform on is a good sign heading into next week’s training camp.

Greer and Compher are set to begin their first pro seasons after tremendous amateur campaigns in 2015-16. Greer helped Rouyn-Noranda to a QMJHL championship and the Memorial Cup Final while Compher captained the Wolverines’ high-powered offense.

“Personally, I think I did a good job,” Greer said. “There are definitely some areas in my game that I want to improve. Some little things and little details, but for a first game I was satisfied with my performance.”

Compher had the same assessment of his play.

“I think I did some good things, but there are some things that I need to improve on,” he said. “It’s nice to get the goal at the end, and Bigras had a great shot on the power play, giving me an assist. There is a lot of room for improvement. I know there are some parts of the game where I’m going to go back and try and be better tomorrow to round my full game out.”

With a full arena of Avalanche fans watching and the team’s coaches and management staff observing from above, Compher tried to not worry too much about making a strong impression. On this day, he was just focused on helping the Avs beat the Sharks.

“It’s not something that I can worry about. They are going to make their decisions and think what they want to think and evaluate however so,” said Compher on showing off his skills to the Avs staff. “For me, it’s just getting better each day and working hard to do what I do as a hockey player, compete and try to win. I think that is what I did today.”

Compher helped open the game’s scoring on the power play at 9:34 of the first period as he fed a cross-ice pass to Bigras at the left point, and the ensuing slap shot by the defenseman flew past Sharks goaltender Mantas Armalis, off the cross bar and into the back of the net.

Greer got on the scoresheet 35 seconds into the middle frame (and 30 seconds after a San Jose man advantage expired) as he tapped in Rantanen’s …

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