Colorado Avalanche: Matt Duchene’s Post-Drought Cellies
Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene is no stranger to goal-scoring droughts. He’s developed some unique celebrations for when he busts his slumps.
Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene is a scorer. In a dismal Avalanche season he’s second on the team for points with 37 and first in goals with 17. He has 241 points (173 goals, 241 assists) in his career. This includes four 20+ goal seasons and a 30-goal season. Duchene is an offensive player.
So, when he’s not scoring, life is hard for him. And that’s exacerbated by the fact that Duchene is ever a streaky scorer. It’s not unusual for Matt to go nine, ten games without scoring a goal. Even 12 or 13.
And Matt Duchene, being the intense young man that he is, has unique celebrations for his post-drought goals.
Perhaps the most intense post-drought celly came on February 8, 2014 against the New York Islanders. His second period goal ended a nine-game drought that came after the end of a career-high 13-game goal drought. (More on that below.)
In those nine games, Duchene got seven assists. He also got a lot of good looks, but no goal. So close so many times.
Then, in the second period, Matt Duchene drove to the net. He was wearing an Islander like a cape, but he persisted on the puck. Even as New York goalie Evgeny Nabakov seemed to seal all the gaps, Duchene kept persisting:
The way he threw his arms up then down before ice picking the glass made us all think he’d missed yet again. Especially since it was accompanied with a rebel yell.
But that was his way of celebrating the end of a very frustrating goal-scoring drought.
By his own estimation, Matt Duchene’s most recent scoring drought was his most frustrating. While in the middle of it, he kept calling it crazy. When it was finally over — the other night against the Detroit Red Wings — Duchene called the experience “just insane,” the worst of his career.
On the face of it, the goal-less drought was “only” 11 games, and he had experienced worse. However, unlike in previous instances, Matt got absolutely no points in those 11 games. What’s more, the previous goal, against the Tampa Bay Lightning on February 19, 2017, was the only one in 25 games. (He did have seven assists during that 13-game drought.)
Matt Duchene called that goal a “relief.” But you didn’t need him to say it. Watch the celebration:
He just throws his arms up in a Praise Jesus gesture of relief.
One of Duchene’s goofiest goal celebrations came after a 12-game drought spanning from December 13, 2014 to January 10, 2015. In that time he got four assists, but no goals.
Finally, Duchene skates around the back of the Dallas Stars net. He whips around in a spin-o-rama and shoots the puck top shelf for a goal:
Truthfully, Duchene wasn’t exactly celebrating when he slipped around on his left skate and scooted across the ice on his butt. However, the way he twists around like a cat, gets to his knees and stands up while still sliding backwards is an especially impressive feat.
My personal favorite post-drought celly came after the afore-mentioned 13-game goal-less stretch in 2014. Going into that game against the Nashville Predators, Matt Duchene wouldn’t even talk anymore about the drought. He’d already answered the questions after the 9th, 10th, 11th games.
Here Duchene effects another hard-angle goal. The kid was trying everything:
And at the end, he reaches back and whips that monkey off his back. Yet another goal-less drought ended.
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Which was your favorite drought-busting celebration for Matt Duchene?