Colorado Avalanche: Home Ice Advantage is Real with this Team

Or is it?! The Colorado Avalanche bring some realness to the “home ice advantage” legend, making the skeptics re-think their lives.

You hear it every season, and not just with the Colorado Avalanche, but with almost every team in the league: home ice advantage. There’s something about playing at home that can bring the best out of the players. Call it magic, call it the power of love from fans, or just some statistical thing, but for some teams playing at home is exactly the push they need.

There are a lot of factors that play into the whole “home ice advantage” thing, such as the change of time zones and climates (that can mess with the visiting team), psychological elements (like the crowd cheering or booing), and sometimes the referees play a part too – but that’s a completely different story. So, was this a real thing for the Avalanche this season?

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The Colorado Avalanche’s 2018-2019 regular season began at home on October 4, and the team had a total of 41 games at home with 21 wins. A pretty balanced result, but many of those games were won with a difference of three or more goals, and I know you want to relive some of those moments.

First off, how could we forget that the Avs began the season with a 4-1 over the Minnesota Wild, followed by a 5-2 win over Gritty and his Philadelphia Flyers friends? Later that month, the Ottawa Senators came to visit and left with a 6-3 loss. An honorable mention during that first month is the first game against the Tampa Bay Lightning where the Avs lost 0-1, but it was one of their best games of the season.

In November came a 6-3 win over the Boston Bruins and an unbelievable 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins (fun fact: Pittsburgh’s three goals were all from Sidney Crosby). Now let’s jump all the way to January, where the team won 6-1 against the New York Rangers and then 7-1 against the Los Angeles Kings (that one was exciting, don’t you think?).

February had its good “home ice” games too, with the Avs shutting out the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 and defeating the Winnipeg Jets 7-1. The Buffalo Sabres got a piece of the Avs’ home ice power with a 3-0 loss, followed by the New Jersey Devils (3-0 as well). The team’s last home ice win with a three goal difference was against the Edmonton Oilers with a final score of 6-2. Sorry, McDavid.

And that’s without counting the wins with a goal difference of one or two.

Home ice advantage for the Colorado Avalanche became more powerful than ever during the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, where the team won their two games at home against the Calgary Flames (6-2 and 3-2 OT), and carried that fuel to Game 5 in Calgary, moving on to Round 2.

So, is “home ice advantage” a real thing? Who knows, but it has worked for the Avs. Maybe it depends on the opponent, maybe it depends on whether they are back-to-back games, or maybe it depends on the alignment of the planets, but one things is for sure: the Colorado Avalanche get a kick from the cheers and support of fans at Pepsi Center.

And if we can continue carrying that energy through Round 2, there might be some surprises on the way.

Next. Colorado Avalanche: 4 Keys to Beating the Sharks in Round 2. dark

The Colorado Avalanche will face the San José Sharks for Game 2 of the second round series tomorrow and will be back home on Tuesday for Game 3.

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