Colorado Avalanche Keys for Opening Night

Oct 5, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Colorado Avalanche defenseman Patrick Wiercioch (28) defends against Dallas Stars left wing Curtis McKenzie (11) during the second period at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /

The Colorado Avalanche open their season at home against the Dallas Stars. Here are the keys to the Avs winning this important game.

As I predicted in a previous post, the Colorado Avalanche should continue their strong start. That always happens when you have a new coach, and they are rightfully embarrassed after how they finished last season.

However, this is the Avalanche we’re talking about, and they’re ever a mental team. What’s more, literally anything can happen on opening night. In the last three, we saw them trounce the Anaheim Ducks 6-1, after which Patrick Roy famously shoved the partition between him and Bruce Boudreau down. The next year they were shut out by the Minnesota Wild. They followed that by dominating the Wild last year only to blow the game in the span of 5:07 in the third period.

Like I said, anything can happen.

I seriously doubt anything so exciting as the above opening nights is in store for us this season. (Jared Bednar would look like a fool if he tried to match Patrick Roy’s intensity.) However, the team is largely the same, so they need to attend to key aspects of their game to beat the Dallas Stars.

Keep Out of their Heads

The players cannot overthink this game. Luckily they’re not playing against their personal kryptonite team, the Wild. Nonetheless, the Colorado Avalanche have so many ways they can go mental.

They went 6-0 in the preseason. You’d think they could carry that momentum into the regular season, and you might be right. They could also think this game will be as “easy” as those and blow the game thus. Or, they could get unnerved by by that perfect record.

Colorado has a good record against the Dallas Stars. They even beat them twice in the preseason. However, the Stars are the defending Central Division champions, and they have a deadly offense. Especially now that Tyler Seguin is back in action.

Speaking of that…

Where’s The D?

More from Mile High Sticking

(That heading is a reference to Erik Johnson‘s racehorse by the same name. I’m still annoyed he wasn’t named an alternate.)(EJ, not the horse.)

I’ll give Jared Bendar one kudo — he’s trying something I’ve wanted to see for a while — Johnson paired with Nikita Zadorov. Both are big and mean with agility and fast skating. They could really do some damage against the big lines on the Stars.

Tyson Barrie is supposed to be paired with veteran Francois Beauchemin, who did get the A. Beauchemin can teach Barrie a lot, and he’d be a good anchor for Barrie’s roving ways. Beauch has a tendency to roam, too, though, and that hindered Johnson last year. This pairing could go well or badly.

Fedor Tyutin and Patrick Wiercioch round out the pairs. Wiercioch is an analytic wonderkid, which doesn’t always show up on ice. Tyutin is a Columbus Blue Jackets reject.

Believe it or not, I think the Colorado Avalanche’s defense looks pretty good. The d-corps could do pretty well against the Stars star forwards — there are a lot of them.

Slowing Forwards

I remarked in previous posts that the Colorado Avalanche essentially had a top 3 forward corps with a bottom 9. It’s a little bit better than that.

The Avs have announced the following line combinations:

Gabriel Landeskog–Nathan MacKinnon–Jarome Iginla

Mikhail Grigorenko–Carl Soderberg–Matt Duchene

Gabriel Bourque-Joe Colburne-Rene Bourque

Blake Comeau–Ben Smith–Andreas Martinsen

That’s actually a passable top-six, though it does mean Jarome Iginla (freshly stripped of his A), is back on the top line. I don’t love that — he was so ineffective last season, and Colorado needs both MacK and Landy to have breakout seasons.

I’m rather intrigued with the second line. While Grigorenko can’t match Duchene in speed, he does have some sweet stickhandling moves. Soderberg is a good stabilizer on that line. Plus, he and Duchene played well together last season.

The third line is filled with newbies. If they stick together, we can definitely have fun naming them. “Bourques with a side of Joe,” “Bourque-Bourque… Joe!” “Bourques Framing Cole…” Well, we’ve got time.

Comeau was so good last season, it’s tough to see him dropped to the fourth line. At least he fared better than Cody McLeod, who was stripped of his letter and scratched. Nonetheless, this looks a little like a catch-all line to me.

Is this enough to counter Dallas’ offense? The new emphasis is on the forecheck and supporting the D. That could make for a slower game, which would go against the Stars’ MO.

Next: What to Expect Opening Night

The Colorado Avalanche host the Dallas Stars at Pepsi Center. The game starts at 7 pm.

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