Colorado Avalanche Concede Playoff Berth to the Wild

Colorado Avalanche blow a third-period lead in a game that had major implications for their post-season chances.

The Colorado Avalanche players must have already booked their all expense paid trips to Las Vegas with flights leaving on April 10. This is not a team that is playing for a playoff berth. This is a team just playing the last few games of their season.

In short, the Colorado Avalanche seem to have conceded the final playoff berth to a broken and depressed Minnesota Wild team.

Colorado went into the game against the Winnipeg Jets with their season on the line. They had the final playoff spot, but the Wild had a game in hand. Minnesota also had a game to play against the Montreal Canadiens.

Now, let me be clear about the Minnesota Wild. I hate them. But, this was also a team that was devastated after losing at home to the Edmonton Oilers. This looked like a team of zombies ready to concede defeat. Minnesota players spoke with true despair in their voices.

Look at defenseman Ryan Suter’s shell-shocked visage:

Listen to the depression in forward Zach Parise’s voice as he states, “We lost:”

This did not seem like a team that had it in them to fight for the death for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference. Especially since their goalie situation was tenuous at best.

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The Colorado Avalanche, on the other hand, sounded upbeat and fired up. They were coming off of back-to-back wins against the Arizona Coyotes and the red-hot Anaheim Ducks. What’s more, goalie Semyon Varlamov seemed like his old magical self again.

Enter now the drudgery of having to play a full 60 minutes of hockey. Enter now the drudgery of having to try and string more than two wins together.

The Colorado Avalanche were passable in the first period against the Jets. They really shined, though, in the first half of the second period. After they went up 2-0 on beautiful goals by defenseman Erik Johnson and center Matt Duchene, the whole team seemed to decide that was quite enough hockey playing for them, thank you.

The Winnipeg Jets are a team that aren’t making the playoffs. They just sold off their captain to the Chicago Blackhawks. They’re professional athletes, of course, and they have their pride. But they’re playing essentially meaningless hockey.

They should never have had more gumption than a team supposedly fighting to make the playoffs.

The Colorado Avalanche started getting to their sloppy selves toward the end of the second period. They took stupid penalties over and over again until one finally resulted in a goal. Nonetheless, they took a lead into the second intermission against a team that hadn’t won after trailing in the third in 53 games.

In other words, the Winnipeg Jets had the Colorado Avalanche right where they wanted them.

Now, the Avalanche players knew what they had to do. During the intermission, Altitude TV interviewed defenseman Erik Johnson. He laid it out quite clearly. The Avalanche needed to keep the puck out of the middle. The defense shouldn’t pinch in, and no one should make a big play unless it was obviously there.

There must have been a beer keg in the Avalanche locker room because they came out like a beer league in the third period. That or it’s opposites day. Because every single thing Johnson said, the players did the exact opposite. What’s more, they turned over the puck like it was radioactive and they didn’t want to get radiation sickness.

They gave up two goals in the third and blew a late power play — I don’t think they even got a shot on net during the power play, even after head coach Patrick Roy pulled the goalie.

The Minnesota Wild, on the other hand, actually showed up to play their hockey game. They won a decisive victory against the Montreal Canadiens and took over the final wild card spot.

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I hate the Minnesota Wild, I really do. However, the Colorado Avalanche have no one to blame but themselves for losing their playoff berth. Like I said, they must not want to change their April 10 vacation plans just to have to play more hockey.

Colorado has 12 games left in the season, Minnesota has 13. I guess we’ll see who wants that playoff spot most.

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