Colorado Avalanche Prepare for the Blues

After a thrilling — and successful — trip to the Music City, the Colorado Avalanche prepare to face the Blues in St. Louis tonight, and they’ll be looking to continue the beat.

The Colorado Avalanche played in an exciting contest last night, and luckily the thrill ended with a win as well. They started off with a 2-0 lead in the first thanks to goals from Francois Beauchemin and Nick Holden.

Beauch scored on the power play from the point with a slapper just as the Avs entered the zone. Later, Nick Holden scored on a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play involving Alex Tanguay and John Mitchell. Tangs had the soft hands on a sweet one-touch backhand across to Holden for the easy finish.

The Predafiles would score with a goal in the final seconds of the first to encroach upon the Colorado Avalanche lead.

Luckily, in the second, Semyon Varlamov was able to weather the storm engineered by the Preds, and the Avs snuck away with the same 2-1 lead going into the third.

The third started poorly for the Avalanche, when the Predators scored early to tie the game at 2-2.

After that, the Predators continued pressing the madness, but the line broke when the Avalanche got a PP. They didn’t score on the power play, but they were able to build some momentum.

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Three minutes after a great power-play by the Avalanche, Andreas Martinsen slapped a two-hand-back-hand-out-of-mid-air-off-the-ice-and-in type of goal. Don’t believe my play-by-play, check out the free-form right here:

Anyway, that turned out to be it, and the boys walked away with a win last night. Tonight they head into St. Louis where the music continues in a sad, melodic slam the beat sort of way because I miss Paul Stastny.

Game Notes

— The puck drops at 4:00 PM Mountain time tomorrow evening, so get to your seats (couches) early because this will be a fun one.

— Both teams played last night, so there’s no room for excuses in this one. In fact, I’m looking for a little more of this:

The title of the video is: “A Man’s Game Charges a Man’s Price,” but I’m pretty sure that Nathan MacKinnon introduces “The Man” in this frame. Anyway, let’s hope for more of this tonight.

— As all Avs fans know, the Colorado Avalanche won 3-2 in last night’s contest. Something you might not know, is that the St. Louis Blues are also coming off a victory, beating the division-leading Dallas Stars in a shutout 3-0.

It’s game time tonight for the Colorado Avalanche, and we’re going to need to see some players take a leg up in order to ensure a victory tonight.

Players to Watch

— Andreas Martinsen is fun to watch, because that hit in the first minute of the game was monstrous, and it set the tone for the game. If Gabe Landeskog returns to the lineup tonight, expect to see a scratch through Mikhail Grigorenko’s name because Martinsen should not see the pine.

— Paul Stastny sets eyes on a logo he used to don with pride, while he still sports the number that defined Peter Stastny’s historic shift in hockey. A cry of freedom that ultimately lead to Paul’s chance to sport the same number on his jersey while playing for the same franchise. Now he’s gone… and he didn’t even grace us with his presence on December 7th (obviously).

More from Mile High Sticking

— Move passed the sentimental, my spotlight of the night is Tyson Barrie. The Colorado Avalanche need much more out of him this season, so look to him for a good game tonight.

— Vladimir Tarasenko… he’s scary good, and that’s basically all we need to know. Follow him like a grave-robber haunted by the dead, or an inevitable victim of killer bees; in other words, when he’s got the puck all eyes need to be on him.

— Speaking of defensemen (Barrie), let’s go Erik Johnson. He plays his former team for the first time this season, and last year he had a good go at them before he was taken down by the knee surgery. He’ll be looking to strike down another fiery skating performance, so let’s cheers to that.

Well, that’s what I have for the players on watch, but Nathan MacKinnon and David Backes will be in my magnified spectacles just because bad blood still has to seethe there like infection beneath a hot wound.

Keys to a Colorado Avalanche Victory

Well, it’s another division game, and the only two losses the Avs have against the division this year are against the hated Minnesota Wild. They currently sit with a 5-2 record against the Central, and they’ll be looking to improve that tonight.

Furthermore, if we’re looking for good hockey amongst the glum of what seems like the opposite, the Colorado Avalanche are .500 on the road this year with a 9-9 record. Seeing as they have played most of their games on the road so far, that’s pretty good.

Unfortunately, their home record is very disappointing, hence the overall record that is less than appropriate for this team’s skill.

Anyway, I like the fact that they are on the road, it’s another division game, and that it’s the second of a back-to-back. The desperation associated with the combination of these three developments marks this game for the ampleness of a “give-it-all” mentality.

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Winning against the Blues takes more than desperation though. The Blues are a bruising type of team that leave the black on the body to accompany the blue of their name. So, in order for the Colorado Avalanche to get a victory tonight, they’ll need another strong hitting game, and I’m talking about Andreas Martinsen type hitting.

Furthermore, whoever is in net will need to be aggressive. The Blues work well with a system of puck possession behind that net that draws players to the puck, while allowing the puck possessor to find an open man in the slot.

So, the Colorado Avalanche will need to provide good pressure behind the net, but also cover the slot when the play breaks, and a Blues’ player inevitably sneaks into the slot.

That’s all she wrote folks…

What do you think Avs fans? What do the Colorado Avalanche need to do to get another rare occurrence of back-to-back wins tonight? Who will step up for the Colorado Avalanche? Let us know in the comments!