Inside the Avs' locker room: Scenes from a shootout loss in New York

NEW YORK – Actually, I’m in East Amwell, N.J., coming to you from a charming farmhouse airbnb. I have pastoral views, I have elegant old-school furniture, I have peace and quiet away from the Big Apple, where YOUR Colorado Avalanche lost 3-2 in the shootout to the New York Rangers.

Not making this up at all, I passed about 12 deer on the drive from Raritan Station to the airbnb, after taking the train from Penn Station, a journey that included me failing to get off at the transfer stop in Newark, having to double back and costing me roughly two hours of time. There are deer everywhere here. I could have hit one of them if I’d taken my eyes off the road for a second or two. A couple of them were just strolling across Hwy. 202. A little bit creepy actually.

Here’s the view from my room:

As I wrote about in a column from this game, I wouldn’t get too worked up over the result tonight, or the last couple games overall. They’re getting points still despite not playing very well. To me, that’s an encouraging thing. But, yeah, they obviously need to be better.

I have some uncut audio from the post-game locker room, including a talk with Nathan MacKinnon in which he snickered at the penalty called against him to start overtime. I thought it was a weak call. As did Nate.

Click on the play buttons to hear him and others:

MacKinnon:

Ian Cole:

Semyon Varlamov:

Jared Bednar:

Ok it’s exactly 3 a.m. now, so probably time to let Mr. Sandman come. Avs practice tomorrow in Newark, so look for stories from there in the early afternoon.