A Cold Homecoming

Finally! Home sweet home for the Avs!

This has been a strange schedule so far for the Colorado Avalanche. We are coming off a five game Eastern road trip that saw us win four of those five games. The latest game was a 6-2 win in Pittsburgh over Sidney Crosby's Penguins. Now we are finally in the familiar setting known as Ball Arena. It was December 12, yet this was our first home game this month. That's how whacked our schedule has been. For this bout, it's our second meeting of the season against the Utah Hockey Club, with our first meeting being a blowout win for the Avs in Salt Lake City.

Scott Wedgewood was in net for the Avs against Karel Vejmelka. Avs were really knocking on the door in the opening frame, but nothing was getting in; such is hockey playing against Vejmelka. However, Utah was able to strike, and it was Dylan Guenther, who has quickly established himself as Utah's star player. So 1-0 was the score in favor of Colorado's neighbors to the west, and that score held up after a penalty-free first period.

Second period saw the first penalty called, and it was Olli Maatta (who will always be a Star and a Penguin to me). Avs' first power play was red hot. Five shots on goal, but unfortunately none went in. Even worse, Utah would get a shot in, and it was Vladislav Kolyachonok who made it 2-0 for the road team. Shortly after the goal, Givani Smith was called for unsportsmanlike conduct (I think we have our new Kurtis MacDermid), and it only took nine seconds of that PP to strike. It was Guenther (the Puck General?) who struck again. Second goal of the game, and Utah was up 3-0 after 40 minutes.

The third period saw the game get away from the Avs, and it looked like a countdown to a shutout would happen, but good ol' you know who put a stop to that. Nathan MacKinnon, as only he can, put us on the board, but seconds later, with the goalie pulled for the extra attacker, Kevin Stenlund iced it with an empty netter. Avs had a double minor power play, but it was way late in the period, and it didn't get much traction.

Not a good day at the office, but at least Nathan MacKinnon added to his league leading point total. Even so, it sucks that after dominating that road trip, we couldn't do the same in a return home. What makes this loss even worse? The Jets, Stars, and Wild all lost! All three of them were defeated. So this was a golden opportunity to gain something out of it, and we couldn't do it. Not a bit. Even so, I do think the Avs will climb that Central Division ladder eventually. There's plenty of time, and we have plenty of games left against those three teams ahead of us in the division. All we have to do is win said games, and we could end up in a pretty good position, especially when Jonathan Drouin returns for us.

Speaking of MacKinnon, he's closing in on a milestone this season. The goal he scored marked his 946th point of his career, which ties him with Michel Goulet for third on the all time franchise list. He is 54 points away from becoming the third player in Nordiques/Avalanche history to reach 1000 points, and the first to do so all in Avalanche uniform. With 51 games left in the regular season, MacKinnon will definitely reach that milestone this year.

The Avs will remain at home for one more game, which is another meeting with the Nashville Predators on Saturday. After that, it's road games in Vancouver (Monday), Anaheim (Thursday), and San Jose (next Friday) before one last game before the holiday break: a home game against the Kraken (next Monday).

* * *

Thank you for reading my recap! Click the heart if you liked it, click the subscribe button for more of my stories, and feel free to comment below! Tips and pledges would also be appreciated, but only if you want to do so!