A Moral Defeat?

Two days had passed since the Colorado Avalanche won big in Columbus, and we locked up a playoff spot for the eighth straight year. This past Saturday, the Avs were off to St. Louis for the last regular season meeting with the Blues. A week prior to this, the Avs were defeated by the Blues at Ball Arena, and this was our chance to get 'em back for that.

Yet in just less than a minute, we were down 1-0.

Even worse, that was a Power Play goal. Yeah. Refs put us in the box in 30 seconds because refs flat out hate the Avalanche, and Zack Bolduc made it 1-0. Avs had a power play, but that was killed off, but we still continued firing. However, the Blues later went up 2-0, and it was Jake Neighbours who put it in. Avs had two more chances on the PP, and both of them went to squat. 2-0 held up after the first period. It would get worse. 61 seconds into the 2nd period, Pavel Buchnevich made it 3-0. All the while, the refs did what they did best: ignore penalties committed by the Blues. And they also did someone else they did best: make up shit to call on the Avs. Power play went to the Blues, and Bolduc scored again. 4-0 Blues. Yikes.

Avs did kill off yet another penalty, and we also killed the shutout, as Ross Colton put us on the board. So that makes the score a little better. But moments before the period ended, Miles Wood made it 4-2, and that was the score after two periods. We've done the 4-0 comeback thing before. Hell, we did it already this year. Granted, it was the walking train wreck known as the Buffalo Sabres, but still. Third period saw no penalties, and time run down for the Avs. Late in the third, Nathan MacKinnon made it a one goal game. And with over two minutes left, we had a legit shot here. We were firing left and right with Blackwood pulled and the extra attacker on, but Robert Thomas, who already had three assists, got the puck and shot it in the empty net. Oddly, Sam Malinski scored with 9 seconds left, but there was not enough time left for us to tie it up.

My thought: "Well, at least we knocked Binnington around." Seriously, that was my thought. Win or lose, I'll be damned if we get goalie'd by a burned out shell of a netminder like Jordan Binnington. Again. So the Blues winning streak marched on at a full dozen, and for the Avs, well, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that we will start the playoffs on the road. But again, I said this before: I think we're good enough not to need home ice. We can steal some road games and take care of business at home. We are definitely deep enough to do just that.

So the three game road swing ends with the Avs winning two out of the three games played. Next up, the Avs return home to host the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday (on ESPN), and then on Thursday, it's our final home game of the regular season against the Vancouver Canucks, before we end our regular season in Southern California.

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