Down the Frozen River

Tag: J.T. Compher

Preview: Game 50- Avalanche @ Bruins

Monday afternoon at TD Garden, the Colorado Avalanche visit the Boston Bruins in the conclusion of their regular season series– in which the Avs are in the midst of their second-longest road winning streak in club history at seven games.

Colorado’s longest road win streak in franchise history was set during the 2019-20 season when the Avs won nine consecutive games on the road from Feb. 4-March 2, 2020.

The last time the Avalanche won seven straight road games was back in the 1998-99 season, when Colorado won seven games away from home from Jan. 10-Feb. 7, 1999.

Boston, on the other hand, is coming off of a, 3-2, overtime win in Ottawa on Saturday– having finished their four-game road trip with a 2-1-1 record.

On Jan. 26th, the Bruins lost, 4-3, in overtime at Ball Arena as the Avalanche continued their franchise record 18-game home win streak in the process.

B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, told reporters after practice on Sunday that Jeremy Swayman would likely get the start in the crease after consulting with goaltending coach, Bob Essensa, and that Derek Forbort would return to the lineup after serving as a healthy scratch in the win against the Senators.

As a result of Forbort returning to action, Connor Clifton will likely return to the press box for Monday’s matinée matchup.

The Bruins will be without the services of Jakub Zboril and Brad Marchand as Zboril remains out for the rest of the season due to his right ACL injury, while Marchand will serve the sixth game out of his six-game suspension on Monday for his antics against Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender, Tristan Jarry, back on Feb. 8th.

Linus Ullmark is expected to serve as Swayman’s backup against Colorado, while Anton Blidh likely remains out of the lineup with Marchand out until Feb. 24th amidst other temporary roster adjustments.

For instance, Cassidy remains committed to Charlie Coyle as the second line center with Trent Frederic at left wing and Craig Smith on right wing while Taylor Hall is required to fill-in for Marchand on the first line alongside Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak.

As a result, Erik Haula was slotted on the left side of Jack Studnicka in Ottawa while Nick Foligno served as the third line right wing.

Jake DeBrusk scored a goal in Saturday’s win and played alongside fourth line regulars, Tomáš Nosek and Curtis Lazar, leaving no room for Blidh to get back into the lineup until Marchand returns, at least.

In summary, Boston will likely be without Zboril, Marchand, Blidh and Clifton on Monday.

The Bruins (28-17-4, 60 points) enter Monday 4th place in the Atlantic Division and in command of the second wild card berth in the Eastern Conference, while Coloardo leads the Central Division, Western Conference as well as the entire National Hockey League standings with a 36-9-4 record (76 points).

Both teams have played in 49 games and will take part in their 50th game of the season against one another.

Boston is 15-10-1 at home this season and 4-4-2 in their last ten games, while the Avalanche are 15-6-2 on the road and 8-1-1 in their last ten games.

The Bruins are 73-58-15-3 in 149 regular season games against the Avalanche/Québec Nordiques in franchise history with 557 goals for and 488 goals against in that span.

Marchand leads the B’s in scoring this season with 21-28–49 totals in 39 games played, while Pastrnak leads the team in goals (25) and ranks second in points (46) in 49 games.

Bergeron rounds out the top-three in team scoring with 35 points (12 goals, 23 assists) in 45 games.

A few milestones are within reach in Monday’s matinée meeting with the Avalanche.

Bergeron (20) is one shorthanded goal away from tying Don Marcotte (21) for the 4th-most shorthanded goals in franchise history, Coyle (198) is two assists away from his 200th career NHL assist and Haula (99) is one goal away from his 100th career NHL goal.

At the other end of the rink, the Avalanche are 13-2-1-1 in 17 games at TD Garden– outscoring the Bruins, 45-28, in that span– and 4-0-0 in day games this season.

Colorado is 12-2-1 in matinée games dating back to the start of the 2019-20 season.

Nazem Kadri leads the Avs in scoring so far this season with 63 points (21 goals, 42 assists) in 46 games, while Mikko Rantanen (26-32–58 totals in 46 games) and Cale Makar (18-32–50 totals in 45 games) round out the top-three on the roster.

Makar had an assist in Colorado’s, 5-3, win at Buffalo on Saturday and reached the 50-point plateau for his second time in three seasons (he’s yet to appear in 57 or more games in a regular season thus far) and did so in his 45th game of the season.

He trails only Brian Leetch (38 games in 1991-92, 43 games in 1990-91), Mike Green (43 games in 2008-09), Gary Suter (44 games in 1987-88) and Steve Duchesne (44 games in 1988-89) among defenders aged 23 or younger in reaching 50 points in as few games since 1986-87.

In the crease, Swayman (10-7-3, 2.14 goals-against average, .923 save percentage in 21 games played) is expected to get the start for the Bruins after making 29 saves on 31 shots faced in Saturday’s, 3-2, overtime win in Ottawa.

Darcy Kuemper (25-5-2, 2.40 goals-against average, .920 save percentage in 35 games played) is likely to get the start for the Avalanche after making 29 saves on 32 shots faced in Saturday’s, 5-3, win against the Sabres in Buffalo.

He made 29 saves on 32 shots against in Colorado’s, 4-3, overtime victory against Boston on Jan. 26th, while Ullmark turned aside 37 out of 41 shots faced in the overtime loss for the B’s.

The Bruins host the Avalanche before embarking on a six-game road trip through Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Vegas and Columbus, while Colorado finishes up a four-game road trip in Detroit on Wednesday after Monday’s matinée in Boston.

Expected lineups

Boston Bruins

BRUINS LINES

71 Taylor Hall 37 Patrice Bergeron (C) 88 David Pastrnak (A)

11 Trent Frederic 13 Charlie Coyle 12 Craig Smith

56 Erik Haula 23 Jack Studnicka 17 Nick Foligno

74 Jake DeBrusk 92 Tomáš Nosek 20 Curtis Lazar

58 Urho Vaakanainen 73 Charlie McAvoy

48 Matt Grzelcyk 25 Brandon Carlo (A)

28 Derek Forbort 6 Mike Reilly

1 Jeremy Swayman

35 Linus Ullmark

Healthy scratches and injured members (officially TBA, below is only a prediction based on last game)

John Moore (unlisted), Brad Marchand (suspension), Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Connor Clifton, Anton Blidh

Colorado Avalanche

92 Gabriel Landeskog (C) 29 Nathan MacKinnon (A) 96 Mikko Rantanen (A)

13 Valeri Nichuskin 91 Nazem Kadri 95 Andre Burakovsky

17 Tyson Jost 37 J.T. Compher 16 Nicolas Aube-Kubel

43 Darren Helm 18 Alex Newhook 25 Logan O’Connor

7 Devon Toews 8 Cale Makar

3 Jack Johnson 49 Samuel Girard

28 Ryan Murray 6 Erik Johnson

35 Darcy Kuemper

39 Pavel Francouz

Healthy scratches and injured members (officially TBA, below is only a prediction based on last game)

Bowen Byram (upper body), Stefan Matteau (IR), Kurtis MacDermid

Goaltending stats entering Monday

Boston Bruins

1 Jeremy Swayman 10-7-3 in 21 GP, 2.14 GAA .923 SV%, 2 SO

35 Linus Ullmark 16-8-1 in 26 GP, 2.79 GAA .909 SV%, 0 SO

Colorado Avalanche

35 Darcy Kuemper 25-5-2 in 35 GP, 2.40 GAA, .920 SV%, 3 SO

39 Pavel Francouz 7-2-0 in 9 GP, 2.39 GAA, .921 SV%, 2 SO

February 21, 2022
Avalanche topple Bruins down the mountain in overtime

The Colorado Avalanche extended their franchise record 17-game home winning streak with a, 4-3, overtime victory over the Boston Bruins Wednesday night at Ball Arena.

Nathan MacKinnon suffered an upper body injury early in the action and was forced out of the game, while Darcy Kuemper (20-5-1, 2.64 goals-against average, .913 save percentage) made 29 saves on 32 shots against in the win for Colorado.

Boston goaltender, Linus Ullmark (14-5-1, 2.61 goals-against average, .914 save percentage in 21 games played), stopped 37 out of 41 shots faced in the overtime loss.

The Bruins fell to 24-13-3 (51 points) overall and remain in command of 4th place in the Atlantic Division, as well as the second wild card berth in the Eastern Conference.

The Avalanche retook the top spot out of all 32 teams in the National Hockey League with a 30-8-3 record (63 points in 41 games) and two games in hand over the Florida Panthers (29-9-5 in 43 games played).

Colorado continues to lead the Central Division by six points over the Nashville Predators.

Due to the ongoing pandemic’s effects on the NHL’s scheduling for the last couple of years, the B’s and Avs met for the first time Wednesday night since Dec. 7, 2019, when the Avalanche beat the Bruins, 4-1, at TD Garden.

Nick Foligno (upper body) joined Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Trent Frederic (upper body) and Matt Grzelcyk (upper body) on the list of Bruins players out of the lineup Wednesday night in Colorado due to various injuries.

Though John Moore returned to practice the other day, he was reassigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Tuesday prior to Boston’s flight to Denver.

Anton Blidh returned to action for the B’s and was placed on the fourth line in Foligno’s vacated spot.

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no other changes to his lineup against the Avalanche.

Boston’s short list of healthy scratches on Wednesday included Steven Fogarty, Troy Grosenick, Jesper Frödén and Tyler Lewington as the trio remain on the taxi squad for the Bruins.

Taylor Hall delivered an open ice hit on MacKinnon that caused MacKinnon’s stick to ricochet into his own face– leaving the Avalanche’s top star bloodied and lying on the ice 2:22 into the first period.

Hall was initially assessed a five-minute major on the play, but the on-ice officials reviewed and rescinded the major penalty in favor of a two-minute minor for interference on account of Hall leading with the shoulder and MacKinnon’s own stick doing the utmost damage on an unfortunate result to an otherwise clean hit.

Colorado did not score on the ensuing power play.

A few minutes later, Kurtis MacDermid cut a rut to the penalty box for cross checking against Brad Marchand at 5:29, but the Bruins weren’t successful on the ensuing skater advantage.

Midway through the opening frame, Andre Burakovsky set up MacDermid (1) at the point for a wrist shot off the post and into the back of the twine for his first goal of the season, as well as his first goal as a member of the Avalanche– having been selected by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 Expansion Draft and subsequently traded to Colorado in July.

Burakovsky (19) and Valeri Nichuskin (9) tallied the assists as the Avalanche jumped out to a, 1-0, lead at 11:25 of the first period.

Momentum was fully on Colorado’s side.

About a minute later, Charlie McAvoy’s stick was apparently close enough to Gabriel Landeskog’s skates as the Avs captain went down and yielded an infraction against No. 73 in black and gold.

Colorado went on the power play once again at 12:52, but wasn’t able to convert on the advantage with Boston’s best defender in the box.

With less than a minute remaining in the opening frame, the Avs botched a line change and were charged with too many skaters on the ice at 19:42.

Nicolas Aube-Kubel served the bench minor as Boston’s power play would extend into the middle frame.

Through 20 minutes of action, Colorado led, 1-0, on the scoreboard despite trailing Boston, 13-8, in shots on goal.

The Avalanche led in giveaways (2-1), while the Bruins held the advantage in blocked shots (8-0), takeaways (4-3), hits (11-7) and faceoff win percentage (75-25).

Both teams were 0/2 on the power play heading into the middle period.

Colorado announced that MacKinnon would not return to the night’s action with an upper body injury just as the second period was getting underway.

As such, Landeskog proceeded to give Hall a hard time on the ice– holding up the Boston forward near the benches and finishing his checks to the disappointment of those in Ball Arena that were wanting more bloodshed as the gloves remained firmly on the hands of each player.

Though, it could be argued that revenge is best served on the scoreboard– a lesson clearly learned by the Avalanche after trying to entice Bruins skaters into exchanging fisticuffs and falling behind in the second period only to force overtime and win the game after a dominant display in the third period.

Stick to your game (especially if it’s good enough to lead the league).

Anyway, after a stoppage in play early in the second period, Blidh and Tyson Jost exchanged pleasantries an received roughing minors at 5:52.

The two teams would skate at 4-on-4 for a pair of minutes, which gave Jake DeBrusk (7) just enough ice late in the 4-on-4 action to rush up the ice and snipe a shot under Kuemper’s blocker side into the upper corner of the net.

DeBrusk tied the game, 1-1, while McAvoy (20) tallied the only assist on the goal at 7:10 of the second period.

A few minutes later, Burakovsky tripped up DeBrusk– and after the Avalanche gained possession to initiate the delayed call– Oskar Steen and Samuel Girard followed Burakovsky to their respective penalty benches as the two skaters received roughing minors.

All three penalties were dictated at 10:29 of the second period and resulted in a power play for Boston.

A minute later, Erik Johnson tried getting his point across by delivering three swift cross checks to Hall’s back, but the on-ice officials felt it was perhaps a bit much.

Johnson skated over to the sin bin with a minor for cross checking at 11:29, resulting in a minute of 5-on-3 action for the Bruins before a regular abbreviated power play.

Shortly before Burakovsky rejoined the ice, McAvoy sent a shot that rebounded off Kuemper to Charlie Coyle (10) in the right place at the right time for a backhand shot from the doorstep– giving Boston the lead in the process, 2-1.

McAvoy (21) and Patrice Bergeron (21) notched the assists on Coyle’s power-play goal at 12:16 of the second period.

Shortly before the time expired on Johnson’s minor, J.T. Compher missed the net on a breakaway at the other end of the ice before David Pastrnak rushed up the ice with Marchand.

Pastrnak dropped it back to Marchand (21) for a wrist shot that sailed over Kuemper’s glove into the far side of the net– giving the Bruins a two-goal lead as a result.

Pastrnak (18) had the only assist on Marchand’s power-play goal and the B’s led, 3-1, at 13:31.

After scoring two goals in a span of 1:15, the Bruins wouldn’t hit the back of the net for the rest of the night.

Late in the period, Tomáš Nosek interfered with Nazem Kadri behind the net and put Colorado on the power play as a result at 15:33.

The Avalanche, however, remained powerless on the skater advantage heading into the second intermission.

Boston led, 3-1, on the scoreboard despite trailing, 30-25, in shots on goal after two periods.

Both teams managed to amass 12 shots each in the second period alone, while the Bruins continued to dominate in blocked shots (11-3), takeaways (5-3) and faceoff win% (67-33).

Colorado, however, led in giveaways (5-3) and hits (19-15) through 40 minutes.

The Avs were 0/3, while the B’s were 1/4 on the power play heading into the final frame of regulation.

Midway through the final frame, Girard (5) let go of a shot from the point that had eyes as it snaked its way through traffic and around the stick of his fellow teammate, Mikko Rantanen, into the twine behind Ullmark– pulling the Avalanche to within one and generating a shift in momentum at 11:46 of the third period.

Cale Makar (24) and Kadri (37) had the assists on the goal as the Avs trailed, 3-2, with plenty of time left to make things interesting.

With 2:33 remaining in regulation, Colorado head coach, Jared Bednar, pulled Kuemper for an extra attacker.

Bednar then used his timeout after a stoppage with 1:10 remaining in the action.

After an icing call was waved off, the Avalanche rushed into the attacking zone and worked the puck around Boston’s defensive end with relative ease– tiring the Bruins skaters that had been on the ice in the process.

Nichushkin sent a pass to Kadri, who setup Landeskog (16) with a saucer through the slot for the one-timer goal as Derek Forbort opted to try to block the shot instead of breakup the passing lane or get a stick on Landeskog’s stick.

Kadri (38) and Nichuskin (10) had the assists as Landeskog tied the game, 3-3, with the goalie pulled at 19:23 of the third period.

Ullmark couldn’t catch up– literally– as the Bruins goaltender dove across the crease glove first.

After regulation, the score was even, 3-3, despite the Avalanche amassing an, 18-7, advantage in shots on goal in the third period alone.

Colorado led in total shots on goal, 38-32, as well as in giveaways, 9-7, while Boston led in blocked shots (16-6), takeaways (6-4) and faceoff win% (61-39).

Both teams had 22 hits aside, while the Avs were 0/3 and the B’s were 1/4 on the power play heading into the extra frame.

Cassidy sent out Coyle, DeBrusk and McAvoy to start overtime, while Bednar countered with Landeskog, Rantanen and Makar.

Each team made at least one change on the fly before Mike Reilly tripped Nichuskin to breakup an otherwise high danger scoring opportunity for Colorado.

The Avalanche went on the 4-on-3 power play as a result at 1:14 of the overtime period and it proved to be costly for the Bruins.

Colorado toyed with Boston in the attacking zone before Kadri worked the puck over to Makar (17) for the game-winning power-play goal from the point over Ullmark’s blocker on the short side at 3:01.

Kadri (39) and Landeskog (25) tallied the assists– completing a three-point night (0-3–3 totals) for Kadri as Makar’s goal gave the Avalanche a, 4-3, overtime victory and their 17th win at home since Nov. 11, 2020– extending the ongoing franchise record in the process.

Colorado finished the night leading in shots on goal, 41-32, including a, 3-0, advantage in overtime alone.

The Avs also exited their own building leading in giveaways (9-4) and hits (24-23), while Boston left Ball Arena leading in blocked shots (21-5) and faceoff win% (58-42).

Both teams went 1/4 on the power play on Wednesday as Boston fell to 2-2 in overtime this season (3-3 past regulation overall), while Colorado improved to 4-3 in overtime, as well as 7-3 past regulation in 2021-22.

The last time the Bruins won in Denver was on Nov. 13, 2016, in a, 2-0, shutout victory for Tuukka Rask (21 saves). David Krejci had a goal and an assist, while Dominic Moore scored an empty net goal in the win.

Wednesday night didn’t exactly go Boston’s way like it did almost six years ago.

The Bruins are now 9-8-3 (3-3-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 4-8-2 (0-3-1 on the road) when trailing after one period and 16-1-1 (10-0-1 on the road) when leading after two periods this season.

The Avalanche improved to 23-0-2 (14-0-1 at home) when scoring first, 18-0-0 (11-0-0 at home) when leading after the first period and 4-7-2 (4-2-0 at home) when trailing after the second period in 2021-22.

Colorado became the first team since the 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins to have five players or more with at least 40 points by the halfway point of their season as Kadri (16-39–55 totals), Rantanen (22-27–49), MacKinnon (9-34–43), Makar (17-24–41) and Landeskog (16-25–41) each have cleared the 40-point hurdle through 41 games for the Avalanche as a team.

The Bruins continue their three-game road trip (0-0-1) Friday night in Arizona with a matchup against the Coyotes before paying a visit to the Dallas Stars on Sunday.

Boston returns home to host the Seattle Kraken in their first-ever meeting on Feb. 1st.

January 27, 2022
Colorado Avalanche 2021-22 Season Preview

2020-21 record 39-13-4, 82 points

1st in the Honda NHL West Division

Eliminated in the Second Round by Vegas

Additions: F Darren Helm, F Mikhail Maltsev (acquired from NJD), F Dylan Sikura, D Jordan Gross, D Jack Johnson (signed to a PTO), D Kurtis MacDermid (acquired from SEA), D Stefan Matteau, D Roland McKeown, D Ryan Murray, G Darcy Kuemper (acquired from ARI)

Subtractions: F Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (signed with TBL), F Matt Calvert (retired), F Joonas Donskoi (expansion, SEA), F Sheldon Dries (signed with VAN), F Ty Lewis (retired), F Liam O’Brien (signed with Tucson Roadrunners, AHL), F Brandon Saad (signed with STL), F Miikka Salomäki (SHL), F Carl Söderberg (SHL), F Mike Vecchione (signed with WSH), D Kyle Burroughs (signed with VAN), D Ryan Graves (traded to NJD), D Patrik Nemeth (signed with NYR), D Dan Renouf (signed with DET), D Conor Timmins (traded to ARI), G Philipp Grubauer (signed with SEA), G Peyton Jones (signed with Colorado Eagles, AHL), G Adam Werner (signed with CGY)

Still Unsigned: F Travis Barron, G Devan Dubnyk

Re-signed: F Tyson Jost, F Gabriel Landeskog, F Jayson Megna, F Kiefer Sherwood, D Dennis Gilbert, D Cale Makar, G Jonas Johansson

Offseason Analysis: If next spring doesn’t bring the desired results to Colorado, it’ll be 20 years since the Avalanche last made an appearance in the Western Conference Final.

Back in 2002, the Detroit Red Wings were in the prime of their dominance and the Red Wings-Avalanche rivalry was red hot as the two teams went at it for not only regular season titles, but Stanley Cup rings as well.

Colorado had won in 1996 and 2001, Detroit won in 1997, 1998 and would do so again in 2002, as well as 2008– five years after Patrick Roy played his last National Hockey League game.

In the 2002 Western Conference Final, the defending Stanley Cup champion Avs were once again the team to beat, but the Red Wings took the series in seven games and went on to win the Cup.

Since then, both teams have had a bit of a falling out.

When Joe Sakic took over as General Manager of the Avalanche, the goal was simple– return the franchise to its glory days.

The bump in the road that was the 2016-17 season brought the team the 4th overall pick after losing in the draft lottery, yet at 4th overall in 2017, Colorado selected their biggest game-changing defender since the acquisition of Ray Bourque in Cale Makar.

Sakic turned his attention to a Makar extension when it seemed like things had gone south with keeping captain, Gabriel Landeskog, in town.

The 22-year-old defender signed a six-year extension worth $9.000 million per season after finishing second in Norris Trophy voting to New York Rangers defender, Adam Fox, for the 2020-21 season.

Makar had 44 points (eight goals, 36 assists) in 44 games– exactly a point-a-game in his sophomore campaign, limited again due to injury after amassing 12-38–50 totals in 57 games in his first NHL season in 2019-20.

Sakic signed Makar to an extension on July 24th and then in the 11th hour as free agency drew near, signed Landeskog to an eight-year extension worth $7.000 million per season.

The 28-year-old captain was Colorado’s 2011 1st round pick (2nd overall) and has 218-294–512 totals in 687 games since making his league debut in the 2011-12 season with the Avs.

Landeskog had a promising 52-point season (22 goals, 30 assists) in 82 games in his first year in the league, then the 2012-13 48-game lockout shortened season kept him to 9-8–17 totals in 36 games.

The Avalanche missed out on the playoffs from 2011-13, but in 2014, Colorado squared off against the Minnesota Wild in the First Round– only to lose in seven games.

That playoff series, however, was the first taste of playoff hockey for Nathan MacKinnon and went decently for Landeskog as well.

After amassing 65 points (26 goals, 39 assists) in 81 games in the regular season, Landeskog had 3-1–4 totals in the seven-game series against the Wild.

Then his production dropped to 59 points in 82 games in 2014-15, and 53 points in 75 games in 2015-16– coinciding with Colorado’s fall from grace.

In the dismal 2016-17 campaign for the Avalanche, in which the team amassed 48 points on the season with a 22-56-4 record, Landeskog had just 33 points (18 goals, 15 assists) and had a minus-25 rating.

But the Avs have made the playoffs every season since then– succumbing to the Nashville Predators in six games in the 2018 First Round, bowing out to the San Jose Sharks in seven games in the 2019 Second Round, losing to the Dallas Stars in seven games in the 2020 Second Round and dropping out in six games against the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2021 Second Round.

In that span, Landeskog’s had a career resurgence. He had 62 points in 78 games in 2017-18, 75 points in 73 games in 2018-19, 44 points in 54 games while battling injury and the COVID-19 pandemic shortened regular season in 2019-20, as well as 52 points in 54 games in last season’s 56-game regular season schedule.

Some say his resurgence can be accredited to the emergence of Colorado’s dominant first line with MacKinnon at center, Landeskog at left wing and Mikko Rantanen at right wing, but then how can that attribute to his own individual playoff success?

Landeskog had seven points (four goals, three assists) in six postseason games in 2018, 3-5–8 totals in Colorado’s 12-game 2019 Stanley Cup Playoff experience, 2-11–13 totals in 14 games during their 2020 Stanley Cup Playoff bubble run and 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in ten games in the Avalanche’s 2021 postseason run.

It’s plain to see that whereas MacKinnon is the superstar forward, Landeskog is the lifeblood of the organization– both as the captain and as a clutch performer when it matters most.

Landeskog’s reasonable cap hit should take some pressure off of Sakic as he negotiates extensions with MacKinnon after the 2022-23 season and Rantanen after the 2024-25 season, when the salary cap ceiling is expected to have risen due to the increased revenue from the current U.S. broadcasting rights packages.

Two big pieces were taken care of, so naturally Sakic set his sights on Philipp Grubauer… …who chose to leave for the Seattle Kraken in free agency.

Grubauer signed a six-year contract worth $5.900 million per season with the Kraken on July 28th– the day that free agency began and a week after Seattle claimed Joonas Donskoi from the Avs in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.

Last season, Grubauer went 30-9-1 in 40 games played, had seven shutouts (tied for the most with New York Islanders goaltender, Semyon Varlamov) and amassed a 1.95 goals-against average, as well as a .922 save percentage in that span.

It was a breakout year for the 29-year-old goaltender, so why not cash in while you can?

The downside for Colorado, however, is that it left them briefly with uncertainty in the crease until they acquired Darcy Kuemper from the Arizona Coyotes later that same day.

Sakic worked the phones quite a bit this summer between agents and fellow general managers.

On July 15th, Colorado swapped defender, Ryan Graves, with the New Jersey Devils for forward, Mikhail Maltsev, and a 2021 2nd round pick (from NYI via NJD- 61st overall, Sean Behrens).

On July 27th, Sakic sent a 2023 4th round pick to the Kraken for defender, Kurtis MacDermid, whose father, Paul, played for the Québec Nordiques from 1993-95.f

After losing Grubauer to Seattle in free agency, Sakic dealt defender, Conor Timmins, a 2022 1st round pick and a conditional 2024 3rd round pick to the Coyotes for Kuemper.

Much like Linus Ullmark going from the Buffalo Sabres to the Boston Bruins via free agency this summer, it’s hard to tell what to expect out of Kuemper in an Avalanche uniform.

He should be better considering the overall quality and depth of defenders on Colorado’s blue line a la Ullmark’s upgrade from Buffalo’s defense to Boston’s defense in front of him.

That said, Kuemper hasn’t really been a starting goaltender for long. It’s a risk, like when Colorado sought after Grubauer in the first place from the Washington Capitals a few summers ago.

In his first season as a starter, Kuemper went 27-20-8 in 55 games with Arizona– notching five shutouts and recording a 2.33 goals-against average, as well as a .925 save percentage. Good stuff.

In 2019-20, he went 16-11-2 in 29 games, had two shutouts and yielded a 2.22 goals-against average, as well as a .928 save percentage.

Last season, he went 10-11-3 in 27 games, dropping to a 2.56 goals-against average, a .907 save percentage and once again recording two shutouts.

Kuemper is 31-years-old and made his league debut with the Minnesota Wild back in the 2012-13 season– the same season that Grubauer broke into the league with the Capitals, albeit two years younger in age.

How will a full 82-game schedule as the starting netminder with Pavel Francouz returning from an injury that prevented him from being the backup in Colorado last season impact Kuemper’s performance in the crease?

There’s kind of a lot at stake here. No pressure or anything, but the Avalanche are trying to win the Cup now rather than later.

Speaking of “win-now” mode, the loss of Donskoi, Brandon Saad and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare puts Colorado in a difficult spot.

They don’t have the dominant bottom-six players on paper that they had last season that made them as much of a threat as the Golden Knights or Tampa Bay Lightning.

Instead, they’ll be relying on the emergence of youth in Alex Newhook, Logan O’Connor and Maltsev mixed with a combination of young players getting better in Tyson Jost and J.T. Compher, as well as a veteran in Darren Helm.

Much like how Saad brought in Cup winning experience to the dressing room last season, however, Helm is doing so for the Avs this season as he happened to be on the 2008 Stanley Cup champion Red Wings– appearing in seven games in the 2007-08 regular season, then 18 postseason games for Detroit in their 2008 Cup run.

It was Helm’s first taste of NHL action and he already was on top of the mountain. Now 34, he’s looking for more.

Offseason Grade: B-

Sakic has a way of taking reclamation projects and maximizing their production in Colorado, though we’ll see if the same effect can be applied to Stefan Matteau and Ryan Murray on the blue line, as well as other moves already mentioned.

The Avalanche have depth, but do they have enough depth?

Despite winning the Presidents’ Trophy last season, Colorado finished the 2020-21 regular season with 39 wins– one shy of Vegas (40 wins) for the most in the league– and eliminated in the Second Round by that same Golden Knights team (the Avs won the tiebreaker with 35 regulation wins to Vegas’ 30).

That said most of the Avalanche roster remains the same and there’s the feeling that one of these year’s they’ll get over the hump and back into the later end of the postseason.

Super teams don’t always win, but having a (super) consistent performance down the stretch and in the playoffs does and that’s what the Lightning have done best for the last two years– turning it on when it counts and sustaining the pressure.

October 1, 2021
Vegas completes comeback with OT victory in Game 5

Hockey is a 60-minute game and generally requires a “full 60-minute effort” to win, you know, the game, but the Colorado Avalanche didn’t do that on Tuesday, didn’t they?

If you read that in one of Bill Hader’s impression voices, give yourself a pat on the back.

Anyway, the Vegas Golden Knights scored two quick goals in the third period to send Game 5 into overtime, which was ended 50 seconds into the extra frame as the Golden Knights completed their comeback thanks to a game-winning goal from their captain, Mark Stone, and defeated the Avalanche, 3-2, on the road at Ball Arena in Denver.

Vegas leads the series 3-2 and can eliminate the 2020-21 Presidents’ Trophy winners on home ice in Game 6 on Thursday.

Marc-Andre Fleury (7-4, 1.81 goals-against average, .925 save percentage in 11 games played) made 28 saves on 30 shots against in the win for the Golden Knights.

Avs goaltender, Philipp Grubauer (6-3, 2.33 goals-against average, .925 save percentage in nine games played) stopped 22 out of 25 shots faced in the loss.

Colorado’s head coach, Jared Bednar, made two changes to his lineup, replacing Carl Soderberg and Kiefer Sherwood with Alex Newhook and Logan O’Connor.

Meanwhile, Nazem Kadri remains suspended for one more game after Tuesday’s effort. The earliest Kadri can return is if the Avalanche force a Game 7.

Mikko Rantanen fanned on a chance to score with an open net early in the opening frame, then bumped into Fleury and was assessed a minor penalty for goaltender interference as a result at 6:07 of the first period.

Vegas went on the power play for the first and only time of the night, but couldn’t convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

Late in the period, with just over a second remaining on the clock, Brandon Saad (7) entered the attacking zone and floated a shot over Fleury’s shoulder on the blocker side while the Golden Knights netminder botched a save by reaching across his chest with his glove hand and coming up empty as the puck hit the twine behind him.

Devon Toews (5) and Rantanen (8) tallied the assists on Saad’s goal as the Avalanche took a, 1-0, lead at 19:58 of the first period.

Entering the first intermission, Colorado led, 1-0, on the scoreboard thanks to Saad’s fourth goal of the series.

The Avs also held the advantage in shots on goal, 10-9, and led in takeaways (8-2), giveaways (6-1), hits (13-8) and faceoff win percentage (59-41).

Meanwhile, Vegas led in blocked shots (8-7) and was 0/1 on the power play as Colorado had yet to see any time on the advantage entering the middle frame.

There were no penalties in the second period as the two clubs swapped chances, ultimately leading to a one-timer goal from the bumper for Joonas Donskoi (3)– giving the Avalanche a, 2-0, lead at 16:28 of the second period as a result.

Newhook (1) and Patrik Nemeth (1) notched the assists on Donskoi’s goal as the Avs took a, 2-0, lead heading into the second intermission.

Colorado held the advantage in shots on goal, 21-14, and led in second period shots alone, 11-5, while also dominating in takeaways (13-8), giveaways (8-2), hits (30-20) and faceoff win% (53-47).

Vegas led in blocked shots (19-8), which would soon haunt the Avs.

The Golden Knights were still 0/1 on the power play and the Avalanche had yet to see time on the skater advantage.

Just over a minute into the final frame, Alex Tuch (4) batted the puck out of mid-air while settling a saucer pass from Nicolas Roy past Grubauer to cut Colorado’s lead in half, 2-1.

Roy (3) and Mattias Janmark (4) had the assists on Tuch’s goal at 1:03 of the third period as Andre Burakovsky’s turnover in his own zone deflected off of Janmark’s stick and led to Tuch’s goal.

The Golden Knights pounced on the swing in momentum as the home crowd was momentarily stunned.

Gabriel Landeskog misfired on a pass intended for either J.T. Compher or Ryan Graves along the point, but the rubber biscuit bounced off of the Avalanche defender’s skate and led Vegas on a rush back the other direction, whereby William Karlsson setup Jonathan Marchessault (6) for the game-tying goal.

Karlsson (7) had the only assist as Marchessault made it, 2-2, at 4:07 of the third period.

Just like that, Colorado’s two-goal deficit was gone.

Two, quick, sloppy plays gone horribly wrong. Vegas was surging.

The Avalanche managed to survive the Golden Knights’ onslaught, but failed to score on their only power play when Shea Theodore sent an errant puck over the glass for an automatic delay of game infraction at 10:50.

At the end of regulation, Colorado and Vegas were deadlocked, 2-2, on the scoreboard, despite the Avalanche holding a, 28-24, advantage in total shots on goal.

The Golden Knights actually led in shots on goal in the third period alone, 10-7, while Vegas also held the advantage in blocked shots (24-12).

The Avs dominated in just about everything else, including takeaways (18-12), giveaways (11-5) and hits (40-31), as both teams went, 50-50, in faceoff win% entering the extra frame.

As there were no penalties called in overtime, both clubs finished 0/1 on the night on the power play.

Less than a minute into the extra period, as some fans were probably just getting back to their seats from the long line at the bathroom during the 15-minute intermission, Stone (5) notched his first career Stanley Cup Playoffs overtime game-winning goal– top shelf, right in the corner on Grubauer’s far glove side.

Max Pacioretty (3) and Alex Pietrangelo (6) had the assists on Stone’s goal 50 seconds into overtime as the pair of Golden Knights teammates worked a quick break after blocking a shot in their own end.

Vegas won Game 5, 3-2, and taken a 3-2 series lead as a result, despite finishing the night trialing in shots on goal, 30-25, including a, 2-1, advantage in overtime alone for the Avalanche.

The Golden Knights wrapped up Tuesday night’s effort leading in blocked shots (26-11), while the Avs led in giveaways (11-5) and hits (41-31).

The two teams finished the night, 50-50, in faceoff win%.

Vegas can eliminate Colorado on home ice at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday night in Game 6 of their 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round series.

Puck drop is expected a little after 9 p.m. ET and viewers in the United States can tune to NBCSN for coverage, while those in Canada can choose from CBC, SN or TVAS.

June 9, 2021
Vegas cruises to a, 5-1, victory over Colorado in Game 4, series tied 2-2

Whether it was the glove side or sheer puck luck, everything went the right way for the Vegas Golden Knights in their, 5-1, win against the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena in Game 4 on Sunday night.

The home team has not lost a game in the series thus far as the clubs are tied 2-2 in the best-of-seven Second Round matchup, while Jonathan Marchessault recorded a hat trick in front of the home crowd.

Marc-Andre Fleury (6-4, 1.79 goals-against average, .924 save percentage in 10 games played) made 17 saves on 18 shots against in the win for Vegas.

Colorado netminder, Philipp Grubauer (6-2, 2.25 goals-against average, .929 save percentage in eight games played) stopped 30 out of 35 shots faced in the loss.

Nazem Kadri remained out of the lineup for Colorado with two games remaining in his suspension after Game 4, while Ryan Reaves returned to Vegas’ lineup after completing his two-game suspension.

Robin Lehner was also back for the Golden Knights as Fleury’s backup, relegating Logan Thompson back to the press box as a healthy scratch on Sunday night.

Brandon Saad (6) kicked things off with a goal from the doorstep on a rebound to make it, 1-0, for the Avalanche at 1:50 of the first period.

J.T. Compher (1) and Andre Burakovsky (3) tallied the assists as the Avs struck first, but would not strike again on the scoreboard on Sunday night.

Less than a minute later, Patrik Nemeth cut a rut to the penalty box for holding and presented Vegas with the first power play of the night at 2:43 of the opening frame.

The Golden Knights failed to convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

Moments later, however, Vegas started to swing momentum in their favor as they were clearly dominating possession and generating more shots on goal than Colorado.

One shot from Reilly Smith rang the crossbar behind Grubauer and bounced through the crease before William Karlsson let go of a followup shot that deflected off of Marchessault (3) and into the twine.

Karlsson (4) notched the only assist on Marchessault’s first goal of the evening as the Golden Knights tied the game, 1-1, at 7:07.

Late in the period, Marchessault was sent to the sin bin after he tripped up Joonas Donskoi at 18:02, but the first skater advantage for the Avs didn’t last long as Cale Makar interfered with Smith at 18:24 and cut Colorado’s power play short at 18:24.

Neither team managed to score in the ensuing 4-on-4 action as the first period drew to a close with the Golden Knights and Avalanche tied, 1-1, on the scoreboard, despite Vegas outshooting Colorado, 15-9.

The Avalanche were 0/1 and the Golden Knights were 0/2 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

Shortly after both teams emerged from the first intermission, Max Pacioretty (3) received a pass on a rush and beat Grubauer clean from the faceoff circle over the far glove side to give the Golden Knights their first lead of the night, 2-1.

Mark Stone (3) and Zach Whitecloud (2) tallied the assists as Vegas went ahead at 1:11 of the second period and never looked back.

Midway through the middle frame, Burakovsky was penalized for holding as a scrum ensued, yielding matching minors for Alex Tuch and Compher– each for roughing– at 9:35.

Late in the resulting power play, Vegas worked the puck to Marchessault (4) for a one-timer from the faceoff dot to the right of the Colorado goaltender.

Once more, Grubauer was beaten on the far side– only this time Marchessault’s shot sailed under the glove of the Avs goalie.

Alex Pietrangelo (5) and Karlsson (5) had the assists on Marchessault’s power-play goal as the Golden Knights extended their lead to, 3-1, at 11:28.

Through 40 minutes of action at T-Mobile Arena, Vegas was dominating on the scoreboard, 3-1, and in shots on goal, 24-14, including a, 9-5, advantage in the second period alone.

The Golden Knights held the lead in takeaways (10-4) and giveaways (9-7), while the Avalanche led in blocked shots (15-7) and hits (37-31). Both teams managed to split faceoff win percentage, 50-50.

Colorado remained 0/1 on the power play, while Vegas went 1/3 on the skater advantage entering the second intermission.

Early in the final frame, Whitecloud sent an errant puck out of play, resulting in an automatic infraction and a power play for the Avalance at 1:54 of the third period.

The Avs did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

Moments later, Marchessault (5) completed his hat trick with a one-timer setup by Smith through the crease as No. 81 for Vegas wrapped around the net and beat Grubauer from point blank after the Colorado goaltender had lost his stick.

Smith (4) and Karlsson (6) recorded the primary and secondary assists, respectively, on Marchessault’s third goal of the game– his first career postseason hat trick and the second hat trick in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Golden Knights franchise history at 6:02 of the third period.

Vegas had pulled ahead, 4-1, as a result.

Midway through the third, some controversy emerged as Patrick Brown (2) managed to poke a loose puck through Grubauer’s five-hole, but the initial call on the ice was that there was no goal due to incidental goaltender interference.

That was quickly overturned by an official review, which deemed that Brown had not done enough to merit an infraction and, thus, Vegas led, 5-1, with Reaves (1) and William Carrier (2) earning the assists at 13:13 of the third.

But that wasn’t enough to convince Avs head coach, Jared Bednar, as the Colorado bench boss used a coach’s challenge on the grounds that he believed that Brown had, in fact, interfered with Grubauer’s momentum while making the initial save.

Turns out, the refs didn’t agree as the call that was originally “no goal”, then overturned to a “good goal” remained a “good goal” as the new call was upheld.

Grubauer was already skating backwards and had too much momentum to keep the puck, if not himself alone, in front of the goal line.

Confused? Don’t be.

Vegas made it, 5-1, was the end result.

Colorado was assessed a bench minor for delay of game– having lost the coach’s challenge at 13:13 of the third period, but the Golden Knights didn’t score on the resulting power play, while Kiefer Sherwood served the penalty in the box for the Avalanche.

At the final horn, the Golden Knights had won, 5-1, and tied the series at 2-2 as a result.

Vegas finished Game 4 leading in shots on goal, 35-18, including an, 11-4, advantage in the third period alone, while also leading in giveaways (11-9).

Colorado wrapped up Sunday’s effort leading in hits (48-44) and faceoff win% (52-48), while both teams managed to amass 18 blocked shots each.

The Avs finished the night 0/2 on the power play, while the Golden Knights went 1/4 on the skater advantage.

Vegas outshot Colorado at home in Games 3 and 4 by a combined shot total of 78-38.

Or for another fun stat…

Since the first period of Game 2, the Golden Knights have outshot the Avalanche 110-52.
— Nick Cotsonika (@cotsonika) June 7, 2021

The Avalanche managed to last in Game 2 because of their first line. The Avs were stifled in Games 3 and 4 because of a lack of depth scoring and because the Golden Knights kept Colorado’s first line quiet– completely off the scoresheet– in the latter game.

The series is tied 2-2 heading back to Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado for Game 5 on Tuesday night.

Puck drop is expected a little after 9 p.m. ET and viewers in the United States can tune to NBCSN for the action, while those in Canada can catch the game coverage on CBC, SN or TVAS.

June 7, 2021
Avalanche pile on Golden Knights, 7-1, in Game 1

A little bit of everything in both the good and bad sense happened in Sunday night’s, 7-1, victory at Ball Arena for the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of their Second Round series with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Colorado’s first line scored five goals, Cale Makar (one goal, three assists) had a four-point night and Philipp Grubauer (5-0, 1.60 goals-against average, .941 save percentage in five games played) made 24 saves on 25 shots against in the win.

The Avalanche were battered, but every player was able to make their way back to the game by the end of the night.

Vegas opted to start Robin Lehner (0-1, 7.00 goals-against average, .811 save percentage in one game played) over Marc-Andre Fleury with two days off in between Games 1 and 2 from Sunday to Wednesday– giving Fleury more time to rest between a Game 7 victory against the Minnesota Wild and the now ongoing Second Round.

Lehner, meanwhile, stopped 30 out of 37 shots faced in the loss.

The Golden Knights also wracked up penalty minutes, including a nine-minute power play for the Avalanche in the third period.

We’ll get there. Keep reading.

Nazem Kadri remains suspended for the Avalanche with five games remaining in his eight-game suspension for a blindside hit on St. Louis Blues defender, Justin Faulk, back in Game 2 of the First Round.

There may be another suspension before Colorado is even involved in another Game 2 this postseason– only this time around, it might not be one of their players on the receiving end.

Mikko Rantanen (2) beat Lehner with a backhand shot off the post and in on the glove side to give the Avalanche a, 1-0, lead at 4:55 of the first period.

Devon Toews (3) and Makar (3) tallied the assists on the night’s first goal.

Moments later, Brandon Saad caught Zach Whitecloud with a high stick and was assessed a minor penalty at 7:26, but the Golden Knights weren’t able to convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

Instead, Gabriel Landeskog (3) scored on a catch and release goal from the low slot over Lehner’s blocker side to make it, 2-0, Colorado at 10:13 of the first period.

Makar (4) and Samuel Girard (3) had the assists on Landeskog’s goal as the Avs extended their lead to two-goals.

Heading into the first intermission, Colorado led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 14-8, in shots on goal.

Vegas dominated in just about everything else, leading in blocked shots (5-4), giveaways (2-1) and hits (12-9), while the Avalanche led in faceoff win percentage (56-44).

Both teams had a pair of takeaways after one period, while only the Golden Knights had seen time on the skater advantage and were 0/1 heading into the middle frame.

Valeri Nichushkin fanned on a shot, then dished the puck to Saad (4) for a goal underneath Lehner’s blocker to give Colorado a, 3-0, lead at 1:04 of the second period.

Nichushkin (2) and Makar (5) tallied the assists on Saad’s goal.

A few minutes later, Nathan MacKinnon (7) sent a catch and release shot through Lehner’s five-hole to make it, 4-0, for the Avalanche at 4:03, while Ryan Graves (4) had the only assist on the tally.

Shortly thereafter, Graves hit Mattias Janmark up high, causing Janmark to whack the back of his head off the glass from the force of the check and take a few minutes to get up and off the ice on his own power.

Graves received a two-minute minor for interference on the late hit, while Tyson Jost and Nicolas Roy picked up matching roughing minors at 8:26 of the second period.

The Golden Knights couldn’t capitalize on the ensuing 5-on-4 advantage and wound up taking the next penalty at 10:49, as William Carrier received a roughing minor.

Almost as soon as Carrier was released, he went right back to the sin bin for roughing while trying to get back at Graves at 13:15.

This time, however, Colorado made the Golden Knights pay on the scoreboard as Landeskog (4) notched his second goal of the night on a doorstep redirection to make it, 5-0, for the Avalanche.

Rantanen (7) and MacKinnon (4) had the assists on Landeskog’s power-play goal at 14:23 of the second period.

Less than a minute later, though, Vegas ended Grubauer’s bid for a shutout as William Karlsson (2) knocked down Girard to clear some space for his own doorstep redirection goal– low on the far side.

Max Pacioretty (1) and Jonathan Marchessault (1) had the assists as Vegas trailed, 5-1, at 14:59.

Meanwhile, Andre Burakovsky took a high hit behind the play and was left with a cut on his face and bleeding.

If ever there was a moment for on-ice officials to read the temperature of the game and be proactive, well, it was soon to come.

Almost two minutes later, MacKinnon (8) created his own breakaway with his incredible speed, utilized his stickhandling skills and elevated a shot over the glove side to give Colorado another five-goal lead, 6-1, at 17:05 of the second period.

Joonas Donskoi (2) and Landeskog (7) had the assists on MacKinnon’s cheat code goal as the clock ticked down on the middle frame.

Through 40 minutes of action at Ball Arena on Sunday night, the Avs led, 6-1, on the scoreboard and, 27-17, in shots on goal, including a, 13-9, advantage in the second period alone.

Vegas led in blocked shots (8-6), giveaways (5-2), hits (17-15) and faceoff win% (54-46), while both teams had four takeaways each.

The Golden Knights were 0/2 on the power play, while the Avalanche were 1/2 on the skater advantage after two periods.

Early in the final frame, Pacioretty caught Girard up high with what looked like a cross check at first.

A crowd gathered and a scrum ensued while Girard took a moment to get off the ice, but upon official review, Pacioretty’s double minor for cross checking was rescinded.

The Golden Knights winger hadn’t actually made contact with the Avalanche defender– with his stick in an illegal manner, at least.

Meanwhile, Pacioretty, Nicolas Hague, J.T. Compher and Burakovsky all received roughing minors of their own volition at 3:47 of the third period.

Each infraction canceled another as they were all deemed “matching minors”, thus rendering the game to remain at full strength while the penalties were being served.

Then, moments later, it happened.

After a Grubauer covered the puck and got a whistle, Ryan Reaves delivered a quick shot to the head of the Colorado netminder.

Whether it was a sucker punch or a cross check, it did not matter to Grubauer, who returned with a quick chop at Reaves’ leg while Graves and other skaters on the ice crowded around Reaves and a scrum developed.

Reaves got a couple jabs at Graves before tugging him to the ice, whereupon Reaves had the high ground in that he was literally on top of Graves’ head– pushing down on the Avalanche defender’s helmet and driving his head into the ice.

Graves ended up laying motionless for a minute or two while an on-ice official worked to get Reaves off of the defenseless player as the two teams became entangled with another.

Reaves was assessed two roughing minor penalties, an attempt to injure minor infraction, as well as a match penalty for his actions against Graves at 8:04 of the third period.

The match penalty immediate considers Reaves to be suspended until a decision is made by the league commissioner, Gary Bettman, himself.

To repeat, Reaves is not available to suit up in Game 2 for the Golden Knights until and unless Bettman intervenes, reviews the reason for the match penalty and makes an assessment as to whether enough was done in ending Reaves’ night early on Sunday or whether Reaves should face further discipline for his actions in Game 1.

Meanwhile, Alex Pietrangelo, Whitecloud, Nichushkin and Saad all received ten-minute misconducts at 8:04 of the third period.

As a result of Reaves’ minors and major penalty, Colorado ended up with a rare nine-minute power play.

Despite being shorthanded for almost half of a period, Vegas’ penalty kill did pretty well until Makar (2) buried a one-timer from the point over Lehner’s glove and just under the bar while Compher acted as a screen in the slot.

Jost (2) and Burakovsky (2) had the assists on Makar’s power-play goal as the Avalanche took a, 7-1, lead at 15:49 of the third period.

At the final horn, the Avs had won, 7-1, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 37-25.

Colorado held the advantage in shots on goal in the third period alone, 10-8, while wrapping up Sunday night’s action leading in blocked shots (11-10).

Vegas finished Game 1 leading in giveaways (7-3), hits (26-17) and faceoff win% (57-43).

The Golden Knights went 0/2, while the Avalanche went 2/5 on the power play on Sunday.

The Avs take a 1-0 series lead heading into Game 2 on Wednesday night. Puck drop in Denver is set for 10 p.m. ET and fans in the United States can tune to NBCSN for coverage, while those in Canada can choose from CBC, SN or TVAS.

May 31, 2021
Avs beat Blues, 5-1, and take a strong 3-0 series lead on the road

The Colorado Avalanche are one win away from sweeping the St. Louis Blues and advancing to the 2021 Second Round after winning, 5-1, in Game 3 at Enterprise Center on the road Friday night.

Philipp Grubauer (3-0, 1.67 goals-against average, .944 save percentage in three games played) turned aside 31 out of 32 shots faced in the win for Colorado.

St. Louis netminder, Jordan Binnington (0-3, 4.11 goals-against average, .897 save percentage in three games played), made 21 saves on 25 shots against in the loss.

David Perron (COVID protocol) remained out of the lineup for the Blues, while Mitch Reinke and Steven Santini made their Stanley Cup Playoff debuts for St. Louis in Game 3.

Meanwhile, Colorado forward, Nazem Kadri, was given an eight-game suspension for his blindside hit on Blues defender, Justin Faulk, in Game 2 shortly after puck drop, as the NHL Department of Player Safety announced late Friday night.

Carl Soderberg entered the lineup for the Avalanche, as Kadri was already removed from Jared Bednar’s plans heading into Game 3.

Brayden Schenn was penalized for interference at 6:49 of the first period and presented the game’s first skater advantage to the Avalanche as a result.

Colorado’s ensuing power play didn’t go well and came to an end before Schenn’s minor was fully served as Samuel Girard tripped up Ivan Barbashev at 8:41 of the opening frame.

After eight seconds of 4-on-4 action, the Blues had an abbreviated power play.

St. Louis was powerless on the resulting skater advantage.

Late in the period, Barbashev got tangled up with Ryan Graves and the two skaters each received roughing minors at 19:49.

The score was still tied, 0-0, heading into the first intermission with St. Louis outshooting Colorado, 9-5, and both clubs slated to begin the middle frame at 4-on-4 for less than two minutes.

The Blues held the advantage in blocked shots (5-3) and hits (21-7), while the Avalanche led in giveaways (5-2) and faceoff win percentage (54-46) after one period.

Both teams had one takeaway each and were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle period.

As Graves and Barbashev exited the box, a wayward pass made its way to Colorado’s attacking zone where Graves met Binnington as the Blues goaltender played aggressive.

Graves (1) sent the rubber biscuit off of Binnington’s paddle and into the empty twine behind the St. Louis goalie for an unassisted goal at 1:57 of the second period.

Just like that, Colorado led, 1-0.

Midway through the second period, Sammy Blais was penalized for interference at 9:53.

Though the Avs didn’t score on the ensuing power play, they did take advantage of the vulnerable minute after special teams action– pouncing on a rebound and extending their lead to two-goals as Alex Newhook (1) scored his first career Stanley Cup Playoff goal.

Graves (2) and Valeri Nichushkin (1) tallied the assists on Newhook’s goal as the Avalanche pulled ahead, 2-0, at 12:37 of the second period.

Minutes later, Tyson Jost (1) notched his first of the postseason after St. Louis sustained pressure in the attacking zone before Colorado turned things around with a fast breakout prior to Gabriel Landeskog giving Jost the puck on a rush.

Jost scored on his own rebound from almost at the goal line while Landeskog skated near Binnington– never coming in contact with the goaltender, but nevertheless, Blues head coach, Craig Berube, challenged the call on the ice.

Video review confirmed that Landeskog never made contact with the goaltender and thus, Landeskog (5) and Girard (2) each had an assist on Jost’s goal and the Blue Notes received a bench minor for delay of game, having lost the coach’s challenge at 16:08.

Colorado had a, 3-0, lead as Vladimir Tarasenko served Berube’s blunder.

While digging the puck out of his own zone, Cale Makar, turned the vulcanized piece of rubber over to Ryan O’Reilly, whereby the Blues captain dished it back to Tyler Bozak (1) as Bozak was entering the zone for a one-timer goal that cut Colorado’s lead to two-goals.

O’Reilly (1) and Colton Parayko (1) had the assists on Bozak’s shorthanded goal as the Blues trailed the Avs, 3-1, at 16:17.

Heading into the second intermission, the Avalanche led, 3-1, on the scoreboard despite St. Louis leading in shots on goal, 26-17, including a, 17-12, advantage for the Blue Notes in the second period alone.

Colorado led in blocked shots (9-7), but St. Louis dominated in just about everything else including takeaways (2-1), giveaways (8-6) and hits (34-14).

Both teams had split faceoff win%, 50-50, while the Blues were 0/1 and the Avalanche were 0/3 on the power play entering the final frame.

Schenn hooked Nathan MacKinnon to kickoff the third period at 3:13, presenting Colorado with another power play that went untouched.

Midway through the third, MacKinnon cut a rut to the box for interference at 10:06, but St. Louis was unsuccessful on the ensuing power play.

A few minutes later, Brandon Saad (2) snuck behind Schenn into the slot, received a pass from Andre Burakovsky and buried the puck in the net on a backhand shot.

Burakovsky (1) and Soderberg (1) recorded the assists as Saad’s goal put Colorado ahead, 4-1, at 13:42 of the third period.

Landeskog was guilty of holding at 17:36, but the Avs’ penalty kill stood tall and didn’t budge in the face of St. Louis’ power play units.

With about one minute left in the game, Berube pulled Binnington for an extra attacker, but his plans to rally a comeback were quickly ignored as J.T. Compher (1) delivered the final blow.

Compher sent a billiard shot off the boards in the neutral zone from his own zone all the way into the empty net.

Graves (3) and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (1) notched the assists as the Avalanche went ahead, 5-1, at 19:06 of the third period.

At the final horn, Colorado secured the 3-0 series lead with a, 5-1, road victory at Enterprise Center on Friday.

The Blues finished the night leading in shots on goal, 32-26, despite being outshot by the Avalanche in the third period alone, 9-6.

The Avs exited the building with the advantage in blocked shots (17-10) and faceoff win% (52-48), while St. Louis led in giveaways (16-9) and hits (46-20).

St. Louis finished 0/3 and Colorado went 0/4 on the power play in Game 3.

The Avalanche have a chance to sweep the Blues while in St. Louis and punch their ticket to the Second Round of the 2021 Stanely Cup Playoffs on Sunday.

Puck drop for Game 4 is expected around 5 p.m. ET and fans looking for national coverage of the game in the United States can tune their television sets and more to NBCSN, while those in Canada can view the game on SN360 or TVAS.

May 22, 2021
Colorado Avalanche 2019-20 Season Preview

Colorado Avalanche

38-30-14, 90 points, 5th in the Central Division

Eliminated in the Second Round by San Jose

Additions: F Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, F Andre Burakovsky (acquired from WSH, then re-signed), F Joonas Donskoi, F Nazem Kadri (acquired from TOR), F Jayson Megna, F Valeri Nichushkin, F T.J. Tynan, D Kevin Connauton (acquired from ARI), D Jacob MacDonald (acquired from FLA), D Dan Renouf, D Calle Rosen (acquired from TOR)

Subtractions: F Andrew Agozzino (signed with PIT), F Sven Andrighetto (KHL), F Gabriel Bourque (signed with WPG), F Derick Brassard (signed with NYI), F Alexander Kerfoot (traded to TOR), F Scott Kosmachuk (traded to WSH), F Max McCormick (signed with CAR), F Julien Nantel (signed with Colorado, AHL), F Carl Soderberg (traded to ARI), F Dominic Toninato (traded to FLA), D Tyson Barrie (traded to TOR), D Mason Geertsen (signed to a PTO with NYR), D Patrik Nemeth (signed with DET), D David Warsofsky (signed with PIT), G Joe Cannata (Sweden), G Spencer Martin (signed with TBL), G Semyon Varlamov (signed with NYI)

Still Unsigned: F Mikko Rantanen

Re-signed: F J.T. Compher, F Sheldon Dries, F A.J. Greer, F Vladislav Kamenev, F Colin Wilson, D Ryan Graves, D Anton Lindholm, D Nikita Zadorov

Offseason Analysis: Pencil in Joe Sakic for General Manager of the Year 2019-20, because the Colorado Avalanche are a legit team on paper.

Sakic still has about $15.615 million in cap space, but even that should be enough to satisfy– current restricted free agent– Mikko Rantanen’s needs and then some.

Regardless, Sakic went to work on improving a roster that was one win away from the franchise’s first Western Conference Final appearance since 2002.

First, Colorado traded Carl Soderberg to the Arizona Coyotes for Kevin Connauton and a 2020 3rd round pick on June 25th.

Then the Avs followed it up by acquiring Andre Burakovsky from the Washington Capitals in exchange for Scott Kosmachuk, a 2020 2nd round pick and the 2020 3rd round pick previously acquired in the Soderberg trade on June 28th.

Burakovsky was quickly signed to a one-year deal worth $3.250 million as a “prove it” contract. The 24-year-old winger is finally free from the shadows of Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Co., but now he can’t hide anymore.

It’s a make or break year as he’s never scored more than 38 points in a season.

Sakic made a minor move with the Florida Panthers a day after the Burakovsky trade, then made a big splash on July 1st and it wasn’t of the free agent variety.

Colorado shipped Tyson Barrie, Alexander Kerfoot and a 2020 6th round pick to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Nazem Kadri, Calle Rosen and a 2020 3rd round pick.

The Avalanche retained 50% of Barrie’s salary ($2.750 million) in the transaction, leaving Toronto with the uneasy task of balancing their checkbooks now that Mitch Marner is re-signed.

Barrie is a versatile defender that will give the Maple Leafs some added flavor to their special teams, but he’s a pending unrestricted free agent at season’s end. That’s not Sakic’s problem, however.

Instead, Sakic is focused on continuing to trust in Colorado’s head coach, Jared Bednar, and Bednar’s process.

Bednar has a plethora of new faces that he’ll have to get onboard with his plan.

For starters, Kadri won’t have to face the Boston Bruins in the First Round (assuming Colorado makes the playoffs in 2020, which is a pretty safe bet), so Bednar shouldn’t have too much of a problem reigning him in.

Overall the Avs are relying on their youth, a revamped defense and a stronger top-nine presence with Joonas Donskoi having signed a four-year deal at $3.900 million per season in addition to Sakic’s trade work.

Some experts are picking the Avalanche to win the Cup in 2020, but that might be too much of a stretch too soon.

Colorado is starting to open a championship window, however, so it’d be a major disappointment if they don’t at least get to the Stanley Cup Final in the coming years.

Offseason Grade: A

If there’s a team that’s a dark horse to win the Cup this season out of all the playoff teams from last season, it’s the Avalanche, for sure. That said, Sakic’s moves in the offseason may take a full year to gel (a la Erik Karlsson’s transition from Ottawa to San Jose– East to West), so it shouldn’t surprise anyone if Colorado’s knocked out before the Final.

But in terms of fixing holes and building off of what’s already on the roster, Sakic hit it out of the park. The Avs are good and should be good as long as they don’t have to rely solely on goaltending (Philipp Grubauer is one deep postseason run away from proving his legitimacy as a starting goaltender in the NHL).

September 15, 2019
DTFR Podcast #165- Where’s My Cottage Invite?

Nick takes a little time out of the summer to go over third line signings, jersey number controversy and Ron Francis’ hiring as General Manager of the Seattle expansion franchise.

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Stitcher and/or on Spotify. Support the show on Patreon.

July 19, 2019
Bruins beat Avs for the first time at home in 21 years, 2-1 in OT

Brad Marchand‘s 14th career game-winning overtime goal clinched a, 2-1, victory for the Boston Bruins over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden.

Following the game, the Bruins partied like it was *1998 (it was Boston’s first win on home ice against the Avalanche since March 30, 1998– a, 4-1, victory for the B’s).

Jaroslav Halak (14-9-4 record, 2.44 goals against average, .921 save percentage in 29 games played) made 35 saves on 36 shots against for a .921 SV% in the overtime win for the Bruins.

Semyon Varlamov (13-13-8, 2.91 GAA, .906 SV% in 35 GP) stopped 33 out of 35 shots faced for a .906 SV% in the overtime loss for Colorado.

The Bruins improve to 31-17-8 (70 points) on the season and move ahead of the Montreal Canadiens for 3rd place in the Atlantic Division, while the Avalanche fell to 22-22-11 (55 points) and remain 6th in the Central Division (tied in points with the Chicago Blackhawks, but ahead in the standings thanks to having a game in-hand on Chicago).

Boston leads Montreal by one point in the standings for the final divisional spot in the Atlantic. Colorado is four points out of a wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Prior to Sunday’s matinee, the Bruins hosted the Los Angeles Kings for a Saturday afternoon matchup. Boston defeated the Kings, 5-4, in overtime thanks to an overtime game-winning power play goal from Patrice Bergeron (20) at 2:34 of the overtime period.

Bergeron was honored prior to the game with gifts– including the traditional “Silver Stick”– and a ceremony for having played in his 1,000th career regular season game on Tuesday against the New York Islanders.

Charlie McAvoy, Danton Heinen, David Krejci and Marchand also had goals for the Bruins in the win, while Alex Iafallo, Anze Kopitar, Nate Thompson and Oscar Fantanberg notched goals for Los Angeles.

Tuukka Rask (17-8-4 , 2.36 GAA, .922 SV% in 30 GP) made 25 saves on 29 shots against in the win for Boston.

Entering Sunday, Bruce Cassidy made minor adjustments to his lineup, inserting Trent Frederic on the fourth line, centering Jake DeBrusk and Joakim Nordstrom, while scratching David Backes.

Sean Kuraly, Noel Acciari and Chris Wagner were reunited on the third line.

Marchand, Bergeron and Heinen were kept together on the first line with Peter Cehlarik lining up alongside Krejci and David Pastrnak.

Steven Kampfer (healthy scratch, on conditioning loan to the Providence Bruins, AHL) and Matt Grzelcyk (lower body) joined Backes out of the lineup on Sunday.

Almost midway through the opening frame, Heinen got a stick up high on Erik Johnson and received a two-minute minor penalty at 9:54. The Avalanche didn’t convert on the ensuing power play.

Almost five minutes later, Gabriel Landeskog tripped Heinen and presented Boston with their first power play opportunity of the afternoon at 16:19 of the first period.

While on the power play, Torey Krug hooked Matt Calvert in effort to disrupt a shorthanded chance by Colorado. Krug was assessed an infraction and went to the box at 17:27, leaving both teams even strength at 4-on-4 for about 52 seconds before the Avs had an abbreviated power play.

Late in the first period, Nathan MacKinnon (29) roofed a shot over Halak’s glove from close range to give Colorado the first lead of the night, 1-0, at 19:27.

Landeskog (28) and J.T. Compher (11) collected the assist’s on MacKinnon’s goal as the Avalanche took the, 1-0, lead into the first intermission.

After one period, Colorado led in shots on goal (12-7), takeaways (5-3), giveaways (6-4) and hits (10-9), while Boston led in blocked shots (5-4). Both teams were 50-50 in face-off win percentage, while the Avs were 0/2 on the power play and the B’s were 0/1.

John Moore (3) tied the game, 1-1, as Bergeron acted as a screen in front of Varlamov at 3:40 of the second period. Moore fired a shot off the far post and in as McAvoy (13) and Marchand (44) picked up the assists and the Bruins tied the game.

MacKinnon was penalized for holding at 6:18 of the second period and was followed to the penalty box almost 30 seconds later by Carl Soderberg after Soderberg interfered with McAvoy at 7:45.

Boston had 34 seconds of a two-skater power play advantage before, but couldn’t convert on either opportunity.

Moore sent an odd puck bounce off the curved glass next to the Bruins bench and into the net behind Varlamov, but it was immediately waved off as “no goal” with 24.1 seconds remaining in the second period.

Through 40 minutes of action, the game was tied, 1-1, on the scoreboard, but the Avalanche maintained the advantage in shots on goal, 24-22– despite being outshot by Boston, 15-12, in the second period alone.

Entering the third period, Colorado led in takeaways (10-6), giveaways (7-5) and hits (19-16), while the B’s led in face-off win% (56-44). Both teams had 10 blocked shots aside as the Avs were 0/2 and the Bruins were 0/3 on the power play.

A string of hooking penalties kicked things off in the third period with Kuraly hooking Samuel Girard at 7:16, followed by Krug hooking Matt Nieto at 9:53. Finally, Colorado’s Tyson Barrie hooked Bergeron at 10:08 of the third period.

Neither team capitalized on the special teams play.

Late in the final frame of regulation, Sheldon Dries was penalized for holding Krug at 17:45 and the Bruins went on the power play. Despite forging a couple shots at the net, Boston couldn’t buy a power play goal.

As time expired on regulation, the Avalanche led in shots on goal, 34-31, and the score remained tied, 1-1.

Boston led in blocked shots (18-12), hits (28-21) and face-off win% (53-47) after 60 minutes of play, while Colorado led in takeaways (13-8) and giveaways (11-10).

No penalties were called in the overtime period, meaning the Avs finished 0/4 and the B’s finished 0/5 on the skater advantage Sunday afternoon.

For the 5th time in the last seven games, Boston was heading for extra hockey.

Cassidy started Kuraly, Moore and McAvoy in overtime. Marchand, Bergeron and Krug ended overtime.

Just past the four-minute mark of the five-minute 3-on-3 overtime period, Marchand (21) unleashed a wrist shot from about the face-off circle to Varlamov’s left side and sent the puck off an Avalanche defender and into the twine.

Bergeron (31) and Krug (34) notched the assists on Marchand’s game-winning goal at 4:03 of overtime.

Marchand’s goal sealed the deal on a, 2-1, win for Boston, leaving the Bruins with a 6-6 record in overtime this season. Colorado fell to 1-10 in overtime.

The Avalanche finished the day leading in shots on goal (36-35) and giveaways (11-10), while the B’s led in blocked shots (18-12), hits (29-21) and face-off win% (53-47).

With the win, the Bruins are now 4-0-1 in the month of February and 7-0-0 in matinee games this season.

Boston takes on the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday at TD Garden before heading out for a western road trip, starting next Friday (Feb. 15th) in Anaheim, swinging through Los Angeles on Feb. 16th, San Jose on Feb. 18th, Vegas on Feb. 20th and finally St. Louis on Feb. 23rd.

The Bruins improved to 11-3-4 in their last 18 games. Cassidy is now one win shy of his 100th behind the bench for Boston.

February 10, 2019