California Dreaming

For the Colorado Avalanche, the last few games saw one clear mission: get ready for the playoffs. The foregone conclusion that we'd be facing the Dallas Stars was there for weeks. Now it's official. We entered our home finale with nothing else to play for, and we entered the last two games of the regular season with that same motivation. After hosting the Vancouver Canucks, the Avalanche's regular season ended in Southern California with back-to-back games against both clubs.

First off, the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings have been the best home team in the league this season, and it's showed. LA's mission was to make sure they had the home-ice advantage in their series against the Edmonton Oilers, the fourth straight meeting between the two clubs. In this go-around, Mackenzie Blackwood was in net against our old Cup-winning goalie, Darcy Kuemper. The Kings opened the scoring quick, and it was Quinton Byfield at 4:03. Goal was challenged for offside, it wasn't, and it resulted in a PP for the Kings after the goal counted. It became a 5-on-3 later on, and while the first penalty was killed off, Kevin Fiala scored 5-on-4.

Kings later commit delay of game, and 22 seconds later, the Avs PP becomes a 5-on-3. On that two-man advantage, Brock Nelson put us on the board, and after the rest of the PP was killed off, the Avs were only down 2-1 after 20 minutes. 2nd period, 2:13 in, Valeri Nichushkin tied it up. Only one penalty was committed, and it was the Avs who did it, resulting in a LA PP that was killed off. However, Alex Laferriere gave LA the lead back at 10:57, and at 16:02, Anze Kopitar made it 4-2 for LA. That was the score after 40 minutes, and in the third, LA has the frame's only PP, that was killed off. Later on, Sam Malinski made it a one-goal game; he's been hot for us. Unfortunately, Fiala struck again, putting us two behind, but Brock Nelson also struck again to make it 5-4. Blackwood was pulled for the extra attacker, and Kuemper almost had a goalie goal--he was close.

Avs fell to the Kings, 5-4, but I was actually happy. We played this game without Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, yet we still put up four goals against our old boy, who had been a brick wall as of late. And as an added bonus, the result screws over the Oilers! So really, it wasn't a bad outing--much better than Thursday's performance.

So Game #81 was in the books, and the next night was Game #82, becoming the first team this season to completely play all 82 games. The Avalanche headed to The OC for a meeting with the Anaheim Ducks, who were definitely not playoff bound, but their season has given their fans some hope for something positive on the horizon. In this go-around, Scott Wedgewood was in net against Lukas Dostal, and the first period definitely wasn't noisy like the opening frame in LA. First PP went to the Avs very late in the first, that was killed off, and later on, Mason McTavish broke the ice with 1:08 left. So it was 1-0 Ducks after 20 minutes.

Second period saw the Avs continue to press, and then Anaheim received a PP. One second after it ended, Sam Colangelo made it 2-0 Ducks. Even so, I said to myself, "It's OK. More of our big boys are not playing." Despite this, I wanted something from this group that was representing the Avs.

Boy, did I get it!

Ducks had a very early PP to start the third period, that was killed off. Avs had one right after, no go. Things were looking shaky for the Avs, and then as the second half of the third started, the Avs got on the board, and it was Wyatt Aamodt with his very first NHL goal. Avs received another power play, and it was Jack Drury tipping in a Sam Malinski shot. The other assist went to Charlie Coyle. Coyle was not done. With 2:09 left, Coyle was part of an odd man breakaway that led to him scoring and giving us the lead! Dostal was pulled for the extra attacker, an empty net goal was scored, and it was Erik Johnson. That was sentimental for me. Our final goal of the regular season, and it was Erik Johnson, back with the Avs, putting it in. Wonderful!

Avs won 4-2 to finish the season at 49-29-4 and 102 points. I want to say this: I am proud to have egg on my face when it comes to Charlie Coyle. I said that we shouldn't have traded Casey Mittelstadt for Coyle. I said Coyle can't score. Coyle won this game. Three points, all in the third. Yeah, I can definitely trust him to get those points and goals that no one sees coming in the playoffs. I'm happy that we ended this mini-B squad run with a win, and now, it's time for the playoffs for us.

Another regular season in the books, this also finishes my second year doing game-by-game recaps on Vocal. The Avs will be plenty rested for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as we may start either on Saturday or Sunday, and all of our boys will be back, and I do mean all!

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