Colorado Avalanche Magical Moments from a Cursed Game

The Colorado Avalanche playoff hopes look dismal at best. Rather than focus on the negative, let’s look at some of the magic from tonight’s game.

The Colorado Avalanche lost at home to the Anaheim Ducks in a game they desperately needed to win to keep their playoff hopes alive. As I watched Mikko Rantanen droop in the penalty box as the Ducks scored just after Avs announcer Alan Roach announced one minute remaining, my heart broke a little. And when the final buzzer sounded and Tyson Jost hunched over with his stick on his knees, it broke a little more.

Dammit, Avalanche, I’ve been trying to remain even-keel about losses ever since that shocking collapse on New Year’s Eve. But ya got my hopes up again.

Well, there will be plenty of time to perform an autopsy on this season as we start our Cale Makar Watch then start looking with anticipation to the draft. So, instead of focusing on the negative tonight, I’m going to look at some of the magical moments from the cursed night.

Now, of course, the most magical moments were the goals. The Colorado Avalanche came out so strong in the first period. Their legs were moving and it looked like their blood was fizzing.

And, unlike what happened against the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night, they got rewarded. As I noted in my game preview, the big players came up big. And the biggest player (star-wise) is Nathan MacKinnon.

MacKinnon netted his 36th goal of the season on a beautiful setup from J.T. Compher:

Samuel Girard also earned an assist on the play. I just love first the beautiful saucer pass to get the puck to Compher and then the next saucer pass to get it to MacKinnon. And then Nate connects with a snazzy one-timer. That’s some skill from all the players.

MacKinnon, by the way, is just three goals away from tying his career-high of 39 goals from last year. That’s something we can start watching for.

Mikko Rantanen scored late in the first period to put the Avs up 2-0. Ryan Getzlaf, who was gooning it up pretty good all night (he went after Jost twice — what a classy old man) was in the box for cross checking Rantanen.

Rantanen drove the net, cutting across the slot to make this power play beauty:

Rantanen, of course, has already surpassed his career-best in goals when he scored #30. He’s also surpassed last year’s career-best in points. Like I said, the big players showed up for the Colorado Avalanche, like we needed them to.

Before we get to the third goal of the game — my favorite, by the way, if for the celly alone — I want to highlight a couple fun plays. The team goes as the captain goes, and here’s first Derek Grant and then Troy Terry introducing themselves rudely to Jost:

I’m not a big fan of Max Jones throwing Alexander Kerfoot to the ice either, where Cam Fowler proceeded to take up residence on his head.

One the flip side, I’m a big fan of Nikita Zadorov smashing notable pest Corey Perry:

As good bud Nathan Rudolph observes, any hit of Perry is a boon for humanity.

Also, Erik Johnson performed his own version of the Girard Spin-o-Rama, on his knees so he’d be closer to Sam’s height:

Fun fact: Johnson wanted to be a goalie when he was a kid. Looks like he has a knack for it.

Side note: As we know, captain Gabriel Landeskog is out with an injury. So, his alternate captain, Erik Johnson, took the ceremonial puck drop.

*Sigh: TFW you miss your captain but your favorite player is acting captain in his place. 😢

Ok, on to the goal. Sven Andrighetto, who has zero goals since Valentine’s Day and only three assists in that time, scored! The goal came midway through the third period when the Colorado Avalanche were back to their buzzing ways.

Tyson Jost passed the puck to Ian Cole, who dished it to the front, where Andrighetto connected:

Like I said, my favorite part of this goal is the celebration. You can tell Andrighetto feels gratified to finally get another goal, and such an important one — the game tying one!

Alas, like I said, we all know how the game ended.

Well, the Colorado Avalanche have 11 more games this season. Let’s enjoy Avs hockey while we still have it — looks like the summer will be all too long again.