Game Summary: Colorado Avalanche dominates Utah Hockey Club in first-ever matchup

It's that simple.

In the very first game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Utah Hockey Club, the visiting team would take care of business. The Avs went to Salt Lake City and earned a big 5-1 win to close out the road trip.

The Avs just went from 0-4 to 4-4 with the perfect road trip record. With Colorado coming home for its next three games, he will look to keep things rolling on home ice. Here's how it all went down at the Delta Center.

First period

After the Avs killed an early Josh Manson holding penalty, they would turn up the offense themselves. Sam Girard's shot from the near circle hit Karel Vejmellka's stick before going out of play. Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar made some nice passing moves that led to some chances, and it wouldn't be the last they found.

Utah got into trouble when Michael Kesselring hooked Ross Colton, then Ian Cole had a near knee-on-knee hit with Casey Mittelstadt that drew a crowd. Colorado made them pay for the power play, with Colton scoring again on the man advantage to take the lead.

On the other hand, Justus Annunen was mainly silent. But Clayton Keller and the hockey first line were on a roll with six minutes left, testing the Avs netminder who was running things.

His work on one end would help his team's efforts on the other. In the closing minutes, Rantanen and Makar came into contact again on a passing move, leading Makar inside and his shot trickled through Vejmelka and over the goal line to double the lead into the room.

Second Period

After killing another early Manson penalty, the Avs got some strange rushes with Parker Kelly and Logan O'Connor, plus Nathan MacKinnon and Rantanen, but they couldn't find the rope.

Colorado avoided disaster thanks to a breakaway chance from Kevin Stenlund and ultimately made Utah pay. Nikolai Kovalenko set up Sam Malinski for a nice turnover attempt, which was finished with ease in front of the net by Casey Mittelstadt.

Miles Wood almost added moments later, and Rantanen had his chance on the next power play opportunity saved off the line. But that didn't matter as just seconds later Ivan Ivan scored his first career NHL goal from Colton's spot to make it a 4-0 game with 20 minutes left on the clock.

Third Period

Colorado played the first half of the period with ease, slowing the game down and putting an end to the Utah offense. They came close and at one point leveled the shots, eventually breaking through.

Annunen's shutout would be broken by Lawson Crouse breaking through the Avalanche defense and beating the big Finn. But just 39 seconds later, Joel Kiviranta continued his current hot streak as he scored one home to make it 5-1. It would be all she wrote during a great win at the Delta Center for Colorado.

Takeaways

After starting the season 0-4, including dropping two of three on home ice, the Avalanche roared back to .500 with a 4-4 record on this West Coast road trip. It was led by the performances in the crease. Alexandar Georgiev won the first game of the season against the Anaheim Ducks last Friday, but since then it has been Justus Annunens net. He was brilliant, recording 24 saves tonight and has not conceded more than two goals in his starts this season. Jared Bednar has said he's riding the hot hand, suggesting the Annunens net until told otherwise – and that appears to be the case for now with newly acquired Kaapo Kahkonen heading to the AHL with the Colorado Eagles.

There was also plenty to do for the skaters on the ice. Makar has continued his excellent start to the season and has now registered at least one point in each of the first eight games. Rantanen was a loose moose, recording two assists and putting together great passing plays all night, breaking apart Utah's defense. Kiviranta continued his hot streak, scoring his fourth goal in three games. Ivan finally opened his scoring account after coming close earlier. Kovalenko also had a two-point night, while Mittelstadt and Colton each got on the scoreboard and continued to find the back of the net. The only downside is that the latter of the two names stayed behind in the second period and did not return to the game with an upper-body injury. Hopefully Colton won't be out long term in what is already a depleted lineup.

Tonight it was interesting to see how history began for this new matchup. It's the first of many matchups at the Delta Center between the Avs and Utah in what fans are heralding as the next great rivalry. There were definitely some chippy moments in this game, but ultimately nothing came across as too big. The old Arizona Coyotes and the Avalanche had their chippy moments against each other in recent years, and it just might happen on the other side of the Rockies. This was also the first game to be televised on 9News and Channel 20 locally in Denver, along with Altitude+ streaming their first Avalanche game. Overall, there were a lot of fun things about this game that will make for some interesting trivia answers one day.

Upcoming

The Avs return home for three games in four games, starting against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday evening. Puck drop is at 7pm MT.