Wild And Tempers Prevail In Colorado

There were a lot of extracurricular activities at Pepsi Center tonight, and in the midst of those, a pretty important hockey game was played as well. In the end, the Minnesota Wild earned the crucial 3-1 victory, and further cemented their playoff positioning.

As for the Avs, they missed a golden opportunity on home ice (though the crowd had plenty of Wild fans) to close the gap between Minnesota and themselves to 4 points. Instead the distance has ballooned to 8 points, and the balloon of fading playoff hopes took a puncture that will likely let all of the air out.

Here are a few reactions to the game:

It’s not how you start, it’s how you Finnish

I actually thought the Avalanche played a really strong first period. They had great jump, and really set a physical tone early. Unfortunately, Devan Dubnyk was flawless, and Semyon Varlamov gave up a cupcake to the Finnish forward, Erik Haula.

It’s a tough situation, because Varly has bailed the Avalanche out sooo many times over the past couple of seasons, but this was a puck he had to have.

The Avs didn’t deserve to be trailing heading into the first intermission, and it was on Varly this time. Unfortunate, because like I said, on most night’s it’s the other way around.

Sweet Emotion

A lot of frustration boiled over for the Avalanche tonight, particularly at the end of the game.

I didn’t like Cody McLeod taking a run at a Wild player off the face-off with 3 seconds to go, and I didn’t like Gabriel Landeskog’s decision to pop Mikku Koivu from across the bench either.

It’s understandable that the Avalanche are frustrated. The Wild have won 8 of the last 9 games these teams have played, ended the Avs’ season last year in heartbreaking fashion, and have allowed a single cheesy goal to the Avs in 4 games this year.

The games have been chippy, and while these teams seem close to even on paper, the Wild have had the Avs’ number.

I love intense, physical hockey. I don’t like when players get cheap to prove a point or take out frustration and anger. I think 55 and 92 crossed that line tonight. Not a huge deal. There wasn’t any harm done. I just don’t think it was necessary.

More fuel to the fire I guess.

Full on rivalry? Or just pure hatred?

It’s safe to say, these teams HATE each other. The fan-bases don’t exactly get along either. Something about these two teams and those associated with them just brings out the fire in everyone.

Tonight we even saw a girl in a Wild jersey sucker punch an Avalanche fan in the stands, and pandemonium ensued in that section. You rarely, if ever, see something like that in the crowd. The blood was certainly boiling tonight.

I can’t wait for the Avalanche to actually win some games so Wild can actually feel some pain. The Avs have a golden opportunity to play spoiler in St. Paul in just a few days.

Trade deadline

More from Avalanche News

• Could Colorado Avalanche move on from Pavel Francouz next offseason?
• 4 goalies to replace Pavel Francouz if he has to miss time
• Colorado Avalanche make sneaky signing with Tatar
• Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog could return in 2023-24 playoffs
• Colorado Avalanche rookie face-off tournament roster

The silver lining to tonight’s game, it solidifies the Avalanche as sellers for Monday’s trade deadline. I believe the Avs should look to move out 1 or 2 veteran guys and try and recoup some assets for the future.

Given their position in the standings after tonight, Sakic and Roy should feel much more comfortable pulling the trigger on a deal. Had the Avalanche won, maybe it wouldn’t be so easy to cut loose a guy like Hejda or Talbot for the stretch run. Now I think the Avalanche should be comfortable making a deal, and getting a look at a young guy or two down the stretch.

PS, Poor MacKinnon with the broken nose

That had to hurt!