While injuries can certainly explain a lot of the issues the Avs’ bottom-six faced this season there are still a lot of things that came up on the disappointing side of things. Especially for players like Alex Newhook and Logan O’Connor in the playoffs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS90fZZgF84
The Colorado Avalanche dominate the Montreal Canadiens with former Hab Artturi Lehkonen leading the way, at least until he broke a finger. Byram, MacKinnon, and Rantanen all balled out with plenty more Avs contributing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK63ufdCbCo
As Colorado continues to push for the top of the central the skill of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, JT Compher, and Bowen Byram were all on display as they easily dispatched the Winnipeg Jets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW1YQSKeLbk
Jesse’s Observations Avs Give back – My favorite thing about writing this piece every week is the fact that it allows me the opportunity to share some of the fascinating stories that we get to see up close, that maybe go unnoticed by the general public. This past week, when the Colorado Avalanche hosted the Anaheim Ducks, the Avs and…
The Colorado Avalanche have acquired Matt Nieto and Ryan Merkley from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Martin Kaut and Jacob MacDonald. Join Rudo and AJ as they discuss why this is solid business from Joe Sakic and Chris MacFarland DON’T FORGET TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE POD! iTunes link– Stitcher Link– Pocket Casts Link– Spotify Link
There’s almost nothing in hockey more romanticized than the fourth line. Made up of a healthy mixture of youth and experience, the same barrier is true for almost all guys on the fourth line: they simply aren’t good enough to play higher in the lineup. Because of this, you typically find defensive specialists on fourth lines around the league as…...
Here on the Avalanche side of DNVR, we’re going to start doing something a little bit different. Today begins us tackling a daily question in which all three of the main contributors to DNVR Avalanche will chime in. With a committee now created to help facilitate a return to hockey, the wheels of progress towards a resumption of the season…...
Style. Systems. Regular season success versus postseason success. Nothing brings these discussions to the forefront of Avalanche hockey quite like matchups against the St. Louis Blues. After the Avs lost both games in St. Louis earlier this year, making it six losses in a row against the Blues, the writing on the wall appeared clear: the Avs were not built…...
Ain’t nobody out there likes getting embarrassed. It’s a humiliating experience no matter how many people see it. But it’s especially humiliating when you do it on television in front of thousands of viewers. The last time the Avs and Oilers tangled, that’s exactly what happened to Colorado as they got bombarded in a 6-2 waxing that saw Connor McDavid…...
It was a pretty wild one in Sunrise, Florida tonight as the Avalanche kept their hot start going with a 5-4 overtime win against the Panthers. Nathan MacKinnon won it in OT on a wrist shot that beat Sergei Bobrovsky. It was the only point Colorado’s top line scored all game. That’s because Joonas Donskoi (1 g, 2 a) and…...
Like all of the players, Joonas Donskoi found himself huffing and puffing after the annual conditioning testing on Friday morning. Being one of the Avs new additions, and one who has made many trips to the Pepsi Center on the opposing team, I had to ask: Is the altitude effect a real thing? “It’s real,” Donskoi said after the…...
This Season Matt Nieto found himself as a bit of a Swiss Army knife for the Avs’ middle six this season. At five on five, he was usually on the do-it-all line alongside Soderberg and Calvert, but he found a home as one of Colorado’s best penalty killers. Points-wise Nieto was on pace with his previous season as he scored…...
Injuries are always part of the story of a team’s season. Luckily for the Avalanche, they haven’t been a huge part of the problem this season until the very end. While Gabe Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen continue to nurse ailments, Matt Nieto is making his return to the lineup tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights. Nieto broke a bone in…...
It used to be that the Colorado Avalanche had something of an inferiority complex, or so it seemed, playing the Minnesota Wild. The Avs, after all, have lost twice to the Wild in seven-game playoff series (2003 and 2014), both on home ice. If a playoff series were held today between the Avs and Wild, Minnesota would hold home-ice advantage....
Some brief locker-room audio for tonight. Most of the crowd was mobbed around Duncan Siemens, with his first goal and all, but we already did the definitive piece earlier in the day on Siemens, so I focused on a couple others. First up, Mikko Rantanen, talking about the win and also his great pass to set up Tyson Barrie for…...
The Colorado Avalanche careened through their three-game Canadian road swing as their roller-coaster season continued to bring plenty of Good, Bad and Ugly for the week. Because of the nature of the road trip, TGBU will break with tradition, and cover the elephant in the room first. THE UGLY 1. Nathan MacKinnon’s injury midway through the Vancouver Canucks game can only be…...
WINNIPEG, Manitoba – It’s minus-42 degrees here in Winnipeg tonight, with the wind chill factor. Seriously. Almost as cold (rim shot please) was the Colorado Avalanche offense. Avs lose 3-0, to finish up a 2-3-1 road trip. When you can’t score on a 2-on-zero break-in, like Matt Nieto and Gabriel Bourque had tonight, you know it’s probably not your night. The…...