Colorado Avalanche win during banner-hoisting opening night

The Colorado Avalanche opened the 2022-23 season with a 5-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. It was so good to be able to watch the team continue on their winning streak after several months away from the game.

Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen each finished the night with two goals apiece with Andrew Cogliano netting another.

It really felt like there were no worries throughout the whole game, despite a number of power plays for the Blackhawks. That was offset by the Avalanche being on several of them themselves.

Mikko Rantanen finished the night with a tremendous four assists. The passing of the puck in this game was outstanding on the goals. Rantanen was one of the three stars of the game, as was Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen.

When your hockey team is playing, it often will give people chills especially if they were a great team. That truly happened tonight. But it was more than just because of the on-ice performance. It had to do with so much more.

Colorado Avalanche raise third Stanley Cup Banner with a fun twist…

At the end of the day, no matter where players are following a successful season, some are like brothers. We got to see that when the Avalanche had their 2021-22 Stanley Cup Banner raised in their stadium.

Jack Johnson was in attendance as he is now on the roster of the Blackhawks but since he was a piece of the Stanley Cup Champion Avalanche last year, he was able to go celebrate alongside his former team.

Just being able to watch that sort of moment puts into perspective that no matter what happens on the ice, these players built a bond with each other in whatever time they spent on the same team. Now that was a moment that gave me chills during pre-game festivities.