Avalanche Game 40 Recap: Ay Caramba!

OK, so...that happened.

So the Colorado Avalanche were coming off a pair of amazing overtime comeback wins to start the New Year, and this game was the start of a three-game homestand. Our opponents were the Florida Panthers, the first meeting of the season between the 2022 Stanley Cup Champions, and the 2023 Eastern Conference Champions. The game started before the football games started, and it was supposed to be part of an epic day.

All I can say is, at least the football was good.

Ivan Prosvetov was in net against Sergei Bobrovsky. He wouldn't be for long. Just 70 seconds in, Carter Verhaeghe, the Panthers all time playoff OT king, made it 1-0 for Florida. Less than two minutes later, it was Sam Reinhart scoring his 26th goal of the season. So the Panthers had three shots on goal and two of them went in. Speaking of Reinhart, he loved shooting the puck in the net so much that he did it again. Avs were behind 3-0, and that was the score after the first period. Yikes.

However, 21 seconds into the second period, Cale Makar struck, with the assists coming from Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. That was point #65 for MacKinnon, and he took the points lead with that assist. 31 seconds later, Josh Manson made it a one goal game, and Valeri Nichushkin tied it up at 4:35! Three goals within the first quarter of the second period! It looked like the Avs would take the lead, but Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored at 8:50, and that was it for Prosvetov. So Alexandar Georgiev, who was exhausted as hell, had to come in for Prosvetov.

Georgiev did shut the door the rest of the way in the second, and the third saw Jonathan Drouin tie it up. Unfortunately, a double minor power play for the Panthers allowed Reinhart to complete the hat trick. My goodness. I'm a big Auston Matthews fan, but how is anyone not talking about what Reinhart's doing? Reinhart is only two goals--two goals--behind Matthews! Just amazing! Kevin Stenlund made it 6-4 three minutes later, and by that point, it was a done deal. Matthew Tkachuk added a goal of his own, and Verhaeghe netted his second of the game.

The Avs lost 8-4. Just one of those days, I guess.

For a brief bit, Nathan MacKinnon had the NHL points lead, and Cale Makar led NHL defensemen in points as well, but both were overtaken by Nikita Kucherov and Quinn Hughes, respectively, later in the evening. While I mentioned that MacKinnon should be a shoo-in for the Hart, I didn't even think about the chances of Makar getting his second Norris Trophy. I have to be honest, I think Quinn Hughes is the favorite, but there's half a season to go. If Makar goes on a points scoring tear, he could get his second Norris in his career.

As for this game, I'll be honest, this was actually worse than the 8-2 loss to St. Louis. I don't know what the hell caused this shellacking, but this was not indicative of the Avs team that has been kicking ass this season. Even so, this happens to all teams in the league. The Avalanche will rise above this, that's for sure. The Avalanche have played 40 years, and #41, the halfway point, is Monday--a home game against the Boston Bruins.

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