Beating the Detroit Red Wings
Any victory for the Colorado Avalanche is good. Home wins are good. Beating the one-time rival Detroit Red Wings is good. When you have an Avs victory at home against the Red Wings — that’s Nirvana.
Especially when it’s a 5-1 victory.
I don’t know about you, but when an opponent scores against the Avalanche, I feel this gut-wrench. I suppose it’s caused by an instant shot of adrenaline fueled by the disappointment. It’s just this unpleasant drop in my stomach.
That feeling is exacerbated and prolonged when I’m at the Pepsi Center and have to listen to opponent fans cheer. It’s that much worse when the cheering sounds as loud for the opponent as it is for the Avs. It’s often like that at Blackhawks games. And, somewhere along the way, it became that way at Red Wings games.
Not on March 18, 2018. On that day, the Avalanche limited the once-rival Red Wings to one goal while scoring five times themselves. And that allowed me to hear — and scream — a lot more cheers for the home team because I was at that game.
Tyson Barrie puts the nail in the coffin:
That goal put his points streak at 10 games, which was longest by a defenseman in Avalanche history.