The fans at Ball Arena weren’t exactly treated to star-studded lineups from either the Avalanche or Golden Knights, but all the Colorado fans in the building were able to head home happy as the home team won their fourth straight preseason game by a score of 4-2 Tuesday.

Here are three takeaways from Colorado’s win over Vegas.

1. Jared Bednar has said they’ll give Sam Malinski some time to learn how to play his “off side” on the blue line, but it’ll be interesting to see just how long they give him. They tried it a few years ago with Bowen Byram and Byram often spoke about how difficult it was to make the adjustment. It’s not an easy ask to have of a young defenseman who hasn’t done it a whole lot in his career learn it on the fly in the best league in the world. Malinski got walked on Vegas’ second goal while playing on the left side, so there’s still plenty of room for growth, but Bednar liked his game beyond that. “More involved tonight than the other games,” Bednar said
2. Another day, and another impressive performance from Gavin Brindley. The first two periods of this game weren’t pretty, but he was one of the few who stood out with his speed and tenacity. In the third, his pressure created the game-winning goal from Ross Colton, as he forced the goaltender into making a mistake. It sounds like he’ll continue to get more looks during the final two preseason games. “I think he’s been impactful on both sides of the puck,” Bednar said.
3. Calling Tuesday night’s lineup the “B squad” for the Avalanche might actually be overselling it. Bednar didn’t dress a single top-six forward and none of his top five defensemen were in the lineup either. Expect most of the big guns to play in the final two preseason games as a tuneup for the regular season opener.