Sea of red sees red after Avs run Red Wings out of Denver

This morning during media availability, everyone who came to the podium was asked about the rivalry that so many say is one of, if not *the* best rivalry in the history of sports. Each one of them, including Darren Helm who played 14 seasons on the other side of this matchup, said that it wasn’t something that they thought about, or felt like there was any bad blood between these two franchises.

My family moved to Denver late in 1994, so I was quite literally raised on those unbelievable matchups between the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings. The physicality, the star power, the hatred, some of the best playoff series you’ll ever see, are built into the fabric of this Avs fan base.

Coming out of the 2005 lockout, however, the Avalanche were somewhat forced into what you could technically call a rebuild thanks to the introduction of the salary cap. Colorado had to sell off star players for, relatively, very little in return, just so they could make the money work.

The Red Wings did everything they could to stay relevant, as they eventually ended up setting the NHL record for most consecutive playoff appearances.

That can be looked at as the start of the end for this amazing rivalry. The two teams were going in opposite directions, and the games just didn’t mean as much. 

Fast forward to 2013, the NHL had moved the Atlanta Thrashers north of the border to Winnipeg, and needed to realign its conferences to make more geographical sense.

The Jets moving to the Western Conference meant that someone had to move to the East to keep things balanced. It turned out to be the Red Wings (they also moved the Columbus Blue Jackets, as the NHL had west-coast expansion in mind for the future).

So you had two teams that were no longer in the same competitive window, and now only played twice a year. It makes perfect sense that as new players came into each respective organization, that they would have no ill-will towards each other.

Like I said though, it’s part of what built the Avalanche fan base. Even though the games don’t mean as much on the ice, there is still so much disdain for the Wings here in Denver. There’s just a different energy in the stands, the chants of “Red Wings Suck” is still the go-to for most.

A lot of the same things from the mid-2000s are still true today though, these teams are in two very different competitive windows, and it showed tonight.

While there was some level of back-and-forth at some points, the Avs showed that even though the Red Wings are starting to climb back to relevancy thanks to the injection of some youth, they just aren’t anywhere close to the same level as the Avalanche.

Colorado controlled play, dictated the pace, and at times, just seemed to score at will, ultimately putting on another offensive show and pummeling the Red Wings 7-3.

With a surprising amount of red in the stands, the Avs looked determined to make sure that contingency of the crowd didn’t have much to cheer about early on.

J.T. Compher, playing in his first game back in over a month, tipped in a Devon Toews shot at 5:01, then Andre Burakovsky added another just over two minutes later.

The building was jumping, and the Avs were absolutely flying. 

Then one of the best moments of the night happened. Nicolas Aubé-Kubel made a beautiful little chip pass to spring longtime Red Wing-turned-Av Darren Helm for a breakaway, and he made no mistake. Helm scored the Avalanche’s third goal on just seven shots and ended the night Detroit starter, Thomas Greiss.

Former Avalanche trade deadline rental Vlad Namestikov was the lone bright spot for the Wings in the first, as he scored in the final minute of the opening frame to keep his team competitive. 

It looked like the Red Wings were maybe going to make this a game when they scored early in the second to pull themselves within one goal, but Nathan MacKinnon squashed any thoughts on that just about 30 seconds later T

he Avs didn’t look back, hanging three straight to put the game out of reach.

Avs goaltender Darcy Kuemper played a really solid game and made several big-time saves to make sure that this game stayed heavily in his team’s favor. Though, if you were to ask him, he would probably say he didn’t like two of the three he gave up. All is well that ends ok, though.

The Avalanche improved to 11-2-1 in their last 14 games, and continue to score goals in bunches. They welcome the Florida Panthers to Ball Arena on Sunday. They’ll be looking to even up that season series after dropping their first meeting in Florida.

TAKEAWAYS

• Nicolas Aubé-Kubel picked up another point tonight and continues to look better and better for the Avs. I asked Jared Bednar if they saw this potential in him within their system when they claimed him off waivers. “Yeah, and I think he’s got more room here yet,” Bednar said. “He’s new to [the system] here right? So to me his game has been a little bit slow, a little bit methodical, but it’s starting to pick up”.
• Devon Toews tied a franchise mark tonight, as he recorded his fourth consecutive multi-point game. This isn’t just a product of playing with Cale Makar either. Toews has been among the Avs’ best play drivers offensively, and has, in my opinion, been the Avs’ best defenseman in their own zone. He’s really getting it done on all 200’.
• Ok, here’s tonight’s token injury update: captain Gabe Landeskog went to the locker room for the second intermission and did not return. Jared Bednar said he hadn’t gotten an update, and would only say that it’s a lower-body injury. The hope is that it’s just precautionary given the score of the game at the time he left.
• I’m by no means saying I’m ready to pencil in Logan O’Connor as a bonafide first-line player, but he just continues to look like he belongs playing alongside Nathan MacKinnon. Small sample size, of course, but watching him tonight, I kept thinking about some of those Pittsburgh Penguins teams from the last decade. It wasn’t also the most skilled players that played next to Sidney Crosby, but they were players that gave the best player on the ice the ability to have time and space with the puck. I could very realistically see LOC becoming that type of player.
• Compher scored a goal in his first game back. What’s been fun and impressive about him, when healthy, the season is that he’s finding ways to contribute even when he doesn’t have his best game. That’s awesome goal support to get from a depth guy.
• Andre Burakovsky scored two goals tonight, bringing his season total to nine. He’s been a bit streaky lately, so any time he can get some confidence going, it’s a good thing. Now he just needs to find a touch more consistency.
• Personally, I think this was Darcy Kuemper’s best game since he’s been back. He also had some of his best moments of the season tonight as well. He did give up a couple of softies that he would probably want back, but he also had several saves that straight-up robbed the Red Wings of goals. If he can clean his game up just a bit from what we saw tonight, it could be huge for a team that is scoring goals like crazy but is still giving up just a little too much.
• Speaking of scoring goals like crazy, the Colorado Avalanche put seven goals on the board for the third consecutive game, and the sixth time overall this season. They have the most seven-goal outings in a team’s first 25 games since the Pittsburgh Penguins had 8 in 1995. What they’re doing offensively right now is unheard of in the salary cap era.