Avalanche Bury Coyotes In Impressive 5-2 Win

Who was this team, and what did they do with the Colorado Avalanche?!

Tonight’s game was what we’ve been waiting for as Avalanche fans all season. The Avalanche were off and running with a multi-goal lead before most of the fans had even found their seats.

Cody McLeod (first star baby) proved his worth to this team, after his surprising selection as the number one star two nights ago, and opened the scoring. He was left all alone in front of the net, and on a rebound chance was able to poke the puck past Mike McKenna.

Just 9 seconds later, number 9 was on the board for the Avalanche. A nice passing play through the neutral zone, and saucy feed from Jarome Iginla left Dutchy with an open net. 2-Nothing good guys!

The Avalanche seemed to ease up through the middle portion of the period, and stud d-man Oliver Eckman-Larsson burned the Avs with a snipe of a goal after a lengthy shift in the Avalanche zone. Boy oh boy, would OEL look nice in an Avs sweater. I can dream, right?

Then, Joe Vitale cleared the puck over the glass to put the Avalanche on the power play. Our first miracle of the night was set-up.

The Colorado Avalanche scored a power play goal. I repeat, the Colorado Avalanche SCORED a power play goal!!! Nick Holden provided the thunder. The Avs set up a nice overload play, and Holden was able to beat McKenna upstairs.

The second period provided us with miracle two of the evening. For the first time in franchise history, the Avalanche managed to hold an opposing team to ZERO shots on goal. Put that in your Corsi-pipe and smoke it.

Semyon Varlamov got so bored, he actually got subbed out for period three.

The Avalanche extended their lead during the second period thanks to goals from Tyson Barrie and Gabriel Landeskog.

The Barrie goal showcased another sweet feed from Iggy, who found Barrie jumping into the play from the back-end, in signature Barrie fashion. Tyson played chicken with Coyotes forward Martin Erat, and roofed the shot. This was my favorite goal of the evening for the Avs.

The third period was the Reto Berra show. Berra picked up where he left off the last time we saw him (a longgg time ago), and gave up a goal on the second shot he faced. Reto settled down during the rest of the period, and the Avs pulled out the 5-2 win. Berra even cracked SportsCenter’s Top 10 highlights with a slick scrambling save!

I’m not even looking at the standings right now. Enjoying another W, and a magnificent performance by the home side tonight. The Avalanche just need to keep on winning baby.

STORY TIME

Those of you who follow me on Twitter are aware that I attended a Coyotes viewing party in Arizona sporting my retro Chris Drury Avalanche sweater. Here are some highlights of the night.

Upon entering, I saw a lot of OEL and Yandle jerseys, and also saw a lot of dirty glances from Coyotes fans. Actually, they might have just been confused. A fan of another team, whattt?

I was the only Avalanche fan in the joint, and the Coyotes mascot, Howler, quickly sniffed me out. He came over, and covered up my Avalanche jersey with his Coyote jacket, and I snapped a quick selfie.

After the Avs third goal of the night, I let out an audible “whoop” and the ‘Yotes mascot came and threw popcorn at me. He knows he loved me. I also told him the Avs used to have a mascot named Howler, so he was well on his way to being an Avs fan. He took objection to that little comment as well!

There were also several items given away in drawings throughout the night, and in a hilarious twist, the big prize of the evening was won by another fan in an Avs jersey. I hadn’t seen this person all night, but when the Coyotes team autographed stick was drawn, it was an Avs fan! The Coyotes fan next to me yelped out a hilarious, “Noooo” when she saw what was happening. Good stuff.

All in all, was a fun night in hostile territory. Coyotes fans, thanks for putting up with me.