Cale Makar's absence was the storyline walking in, and it barely registered on the scoresheet — Colorado still put 3 goals up in a period without him, with Devon Toews drawing an assist on Nelson's power-play tally instead. Trent Miner's night off in net mattered more for what it didn't decide: with the No. 1 goalie job still open, this game answered nothing about who wins it.
Utah actually won the underlying numbers and lost the game anyway. The Mammoth out-shot Colorado 24-17, out-hit them 27-17, and won 69.4% of faceoffs — and still found themselves down 3 goals by the horn. Yegor Borikov's second-period equalizer, assisted by Gabe Smith and Artem Duda, was the only puck that found the net for a Mammoth lineup that couldn't finish.
Tij Iginla sitting out with an injury took one name off Utah's forward group, and the group that remained never generated a second goal to match Borikov's. Colorado, even missing Makar and Miner, iced enough depth to draw 5 power plays to Utah's 3 and cash one of them through Nelson.
- OutTij Iginla (C)09/20
- OutCale Makar (D)09/17
- OutTrent Miner (G)09/16
Both clubs arrived carrying the same scar tissue — Utah had dropped 3 straight to close its last meaningful stretch against Vegas, Colorado had lost 4 in a row after opening that same set with a win over Minnesota. None of that carried over to Ball Arena; this was 2 training-camp rosters auditioning depth pieces, and the score reflected who finished chances rather than who was the better team on paper.
The roster-battle stakes the preview flagged played out mostly in the fringes — Brindley, Hamilton and Makar all found the scoresheet for Colorado's forward depth, exactly the kind of exhibition production that sticks with a coaching staff sorting out a bottom six. Utah's finishing problem, not its territorial play, is the note both benches will actually carry into the next preseason game.