Colorado Avalanche Might go Undefeated in 2018-2019

The Colorado Avalanche are off to a solid start, going 2-0 to start the season. This is a team that’s playing disciplined hockey.

Ok, the Colorado Avalanche are not going to go 82-0 this season. However, they have started out the year with a bang — or with two decisive victories. After beating the (hated) Minnesota Wild 4-1 on opening night, they then beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 tonight.

What’s more, it’s not luck. They’re not getting a ton of bounces or calls going their way. Instead, they’re just playing good, clean hockey. They’re minimizing their errors and cleaning up the garbage in front of the net before it has a chance to go in.

Ok, it’s true this happened:

That was a pretty egregious mistake, and at first I thought it was one that would get Mark Barberio benched. But, while you should look where you’re going, Semyon Varlamov didn’t need to be stopping the puck on the play.

Indeed, here’s what he had to say about the play, per Ryan Boulding:

Barberio also felt really bad about the play:

Anyway, both Varlamov and Barberio had great on-ice responses — they got back to business as usual. That’s what I’m seeing with this team. They’re not playing loosey goosey hockey anymore.

Anyway, let’s look at the two storylines we were watching for tonight, then we’re going to love on Colin Wilson for a moment.

Teams Can’t Bring their Mascots on the Road… Can They?

No, they cannot. However, that doesn’t stop players from channeling the spirit of such mascots. In this case, it was our own player, Nikita Zadorov, who went all Gritty on Flyer Travis Konecny.

Late in the second period, the two were flying back into the Avalanche zone. Varlamov covered the puck — in the right this time. However, Konecny still gave Zadorov a little shove that sent the latter careening into the net.

Oh, no, the big Russian didn’t like that. He couldn’t get back onto his skates fast enough to go charging after Konecny:

Travis is a Kerfoot-sized player who shouldn’t have angered the Russian defenseman. Because as a result of his reckless action he ended up with 6-foot-5, 240 pounds of enraged hockey player charging at him. More than a Gritty, Big Z was the Russian bear who would have mauled Konecny if he’d had claws instead of hockey gloves.

What About Girouuuuuuuux?

I don’t know, what about Giroux? Because in over 20 minutes of ice time he managed two shots and a single assist.

Our own MVP, Nathan MacKinnon, played over 23 minutes. He recorded seven shots on goal, a goal, and an assist.

Advantage Avalanche.

Loving on Colin Wilson

I finished last season frustrated with Colin Wilson. I was so sure the Colorado Avalanche were going to have to buy out his contract this season or bench him.

The season is still young, but in the two games, Wilson has scored three goals. Only two of them counted, but that’s still great production.

Both goals that counted were from tonight:

Who is this Colin Wilson? He appears to be the player the Avs traded a fourth-rounder to the Nashville Predators to acquire. he’s pretty speedy and strong on the puck. I think he could be just the veteran influence the second line — made up of Alexander Kerfoot and Tyson Jost — need.

Unfortunately, the Colorado Avalanche play in the ridiculous Central Division that currently has four team undefeated after two games. It’s going to be a tough battle. However, this is an Avs team that I can see winning such a battle.