The Colorado Avalanche had one of the best rivalries in all of the NHL in the mid-1990s and early-2000s. For the younger fans of the Avs, that rivalry was with the Detroit Red Wings.
Both the Avalanche and Red Wings were once in the same conference, and therefore had many battles.
The two teams met in the postseason five times during their well-documented rivalry. Avalanche fans will be happy to remember their inaugural season in Colorado, where they came away victorious and won the Stanley Cup. While their 4-0 Stanley Cup Final series was against the Florida Panthers, the Western Conference Finals had Colorado beating Detroit 4-2.
The Avalanche, one regular season removed from their first season in Colorado (3rd in the NHL), finished the year with 104 points. Detroit finished with 131 (1st in the NHL).
Colorado was the clear underdog due to Detroits incredible regular season coupled with the youth of the Avs themselves. They just acquired a true goaltender in Patrick Roy, who ended up becoming one of the best goaltenders in NHL history.
Super Joe Sakic won the series MVP with four goals and six assists in six games, and it included two game-winning scores for the Avalanche. Defenseman Paul Coffey led the Red Wings in goals for the series with three in four games.
Roy led the Avalanche in net and despite allowing 16 goals on 169 shots, he outperformed Chris Osgood, who had allowed a goals-against average (GAA) of 3.03 and had a save percentage of .859.
The rivalry ultimately took a huge leap when Avalanche forward Claude Lemieux pushed Detroit’s Kris Draper into the boards. Then, both goaltenders, Roy and the Red Wings’ Mike Vernon met up at center ice and threw punches at one another.
Sakic, Roy, Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote, and Claude Lemieux vs Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan, Sergei Fedorov, Nicklas Lidstrom and Darren McCarty. Both teams boasted some Hall of Fame talent which also played a role in the rivalry and ultimately ended once those players began to retire. The league began to shift again.
These days, you won’t get to see many of those instances take place. The NHL has cracked down on extreme fighting and while there are still some dangerous plays that happen, there aren’t as many glaring fights that would spark such a rivalry. Those times were 25-30 years ago. Even 20 years ago, you’d maybe be closer to today’s game than you were in the Avs-Red Wings rivalry days.
The game of hockey is still a dangerous sport. Sometimes, you’ll see a hit where you are shocked wasn’t called for a penalty. Then, you’ll see a hit that looked alright but then play was interrupted by the referee. The game has changed, and everyone is still trying to catch up to today’s rules.
If I were to compare the hit by Lemieux to a more recent Avalanche experience, it would be Cale Makar’s hit on Jared McCann a couple of years ago in a game against the Seattle Kraken. Kraken fans still boo Makar to this day for that hit. That specific situation is more of a Makar-Kraken fans rivalry, except that Makar has better things to focus on.
Anyway, I would love to hear what readers have to say. Do you have memories of the Avs-Red Wings rivalry I didn’t mention?
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