Three takeaways from the Wild's 4-1 loss to Colorado on Tuesday in Minnesota's first home preseason game of 2016-17:

1. Minnesota (1-1 this preseason) had its chances against the Avalanche (1-0) in front of 16,920 at Xcel Energy Center.

The best of them took a save-of-the-year candidate from goalie Nathan Lieuwen to stop. On a Wild power play with about 8 minutes remaining, Jason Pominville's point-blank shot bounced upward behind Lieuwen, who deftly contorted his body for a behind-the-back glove save.

"I thought it was going in," Pominville said. "I actually raised my hands [in celebration].

"We had some looks. We moved the puck pretty good. We generated some opportunities. We unfortunately weren't able to put any away."

With an aggressive forecheck and a couple shots off the post, Minnesota attempted 28 shots on goal to Colorado's 30.

2. Eric Staal is getting comfortable in a Wild uniform.

The 13th-year pro and free-agent addition played his first game for Minnesota on Tuesday. In 19:25 of ice time, he tallied two shots and led the Wild with 12 face-off wins.

Wearing "the deep red [jersey] felt really good," said Staal, who centered a line with Pominville and Jason Zucker that drew postgame praise from coach Bruce Boudreau. "It's a great building to play hockey in. This is a great organization. I'm excited to kind of get started.

"We'll get through training camp, and then the real deal is going to feel great."

Read more at Wild.com.