Colorado Avalanche: Random Thoughts After Leafs Loss

The Colorado Avalanche did not put forth their best effort and dropped their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Colorado Avalanche lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 5-3, with the last goal being an empty-netter by Toronto. Colorado’s comeback attempt failed. They fell behind 4-1 in the first period after Nathan MacKinnon scored a goal in the first 30 seconds.

And, of course, the Curse of the Former Avs continued as the highly-heralded Tyson Barrie returned and scored a T-Bear special, the power play goal. And I’m done with that topic now. Hey, I wish Barrie and Alexander Kerfoot the very best in their lives and careers for 80 games of the year.

Not when they’re playing the Avalanche, though.

Anyway, for the Avs, Andre Burakovsky and a certain Russian scored and let me tell you, I was glad that Surprise Russian scored because it wiped Barrie’s goal away as the game-winner. Can you tell I’m feeling a little bitter tonight? It doesn’t help that the Barrie Upgrade, Cale Makar, didn’t have quite as good a game as Barrie.

Hey, I ragged on Tyson his entire time with the Avs. I had to do it one last time for old time’s sake.

So, on to some random thoughts from a weird game.

Random Thoughts

So, the Surprise Russian scorer from above is none other than Valeri Nichushkin. The wing had gone ninety-one games without scoring before doing this:

Honestly, Nikita Zadorov looks more excited than Nuke. He even went through the congratulatory line first, which initially made me think Nikita had been the goal scorer.

Little Harvard grad Alexander Kerfoot tried to kill big Erik Johnson by boarding him late in the second. All of Avs Nation gasped collectively as we thought we had yet another injury on our hands. However, Johnson got up and chewed out the refs for only giving Kerfoot two minutes for boarding. Shame on Kerf.

Cale Makar recorded the most ice time with an impressive 27:45. It didn’t hut that he was on the ice for, I believe, the entire last two or two-and-a-half minutes. Jared Bednar also appeared to bench Ryan Graves (11:48).

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Speaking of Bednar, his blender was in full force tonight. He started Nazem Kadri on Nathan MacKinnon’s wing at the beginning of the night. I wasn’t too surprised considering Toronto’s his old club. However, Kadri stayed there, and the lines seemed discombobulated the entire first period.

For the most part, I hated the Line Blender. However, Bednar did put Makar and Samuel Girard back together at times. I don’t care what anyone says about that pairing — they’re fun to watch as they whirligig around each other.

Even though Tyson Jost is back to being a wing — on the fourth line — he had some really good looks. He got hooked late in the second, or he almost certainly would have scored.

Philipp Grubauer got chased after allowing three goals on 15 shots. Pavel Francouz was perfect as his relief. The dj played “Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood after one especially spectacular save. I’m glad I wasn’t the only one thinking “Frankie Says Relax” at those times.

The Colorado Avalanche didn’t play a full 60 minutes. After MacKinnon scored 30 seconds into the game, they seemed to think they’d have an easy time. The weird line combos didn’t help, but they seemed so disjointed in the first.

That said, the Leafs got a morale bump with a new coach. And the Avs are succumbing to injuries.

Mikko Rantanen might return next weekend. Mikko. Rantanen. Might. Return. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed.

Nazem Kadri recorded two assists against his former team. He’ll do even better in Toronto.

Tonight was Hockey Fights Cancer Night, and the team did a lot of touching mementos for those fighting cancer.

Well, that wasn’t a result any of us wanted. But, good things are on the horizon as we’re hopefully getting Rantanen back.

The Colorado Avalanche have a couple days off before they host the Edmonton Oilers. Things didn’t go well in Edmonton for the Avs, so hopefully they pay the same back to the Oilers.