Four Minutes and 59 Seconds

Nothing is ever easy in the National Hockey League. Honestly, that's just the way I like it. Some teams don't make it easy. The Colorado Avalanche don't make things easy. Honestly, I don't mind that either. What I do mind is when even the easiest things become difficult. That seems to be the case very early in this season.

We are two down in the standings, and Game #3 continued our opening homestand. Our opponents: the New York Islanders, coached by Patrick Roy. This was Roy's first game in Denver as an opposing head coach. I don't have to tell you how much Roy meant (and still means) to us Avs fans. Diehard hockey fans know, and his impact on the team speaks for itself. Prior to the game, I and other Avs fans received another stunning development: Devon Toews was out due to a LBI (lower body injury). Oh boy. So that's Toews out, Artturi Lehkonen out, Valeri Nichushkin's still serving his suspension, and the question regarding our captain, Gabriel Landeskog, is still being asked.

Another question we would hope to get answered on that night involved Alexandar Georgiev. Would he get it together? He was in net against Ilya Sorokin, but at just 61 seconds into the game, Calum Ritchie scores his first NHL goal. So the Avs score first for the second time this season. We have a lead. Georgiev was playing like the Georgiev we know. This is good news. Then at 5:33, Anders Lee tied it up. Nothing Georgie could have done. He still held things down, but late in the period, Georgiev attempts to dive for a puck, falls on his face, and it's 2-1 Isles thanks to Kyle Palmieri. I don't know what he was thinking there.

That's the score after 20, and the 2nd period started with 4-on-4 play after matching minors were called at the end of the first period. Avs made attempts to tie, no luck, but in later on, Brock Nelson made it 3-1, and it came with Georgiev making a failed dive again. Avs get a power play, but a breakaway goes the other way and leads to Nelson scoring again. A shorthanded goal. Now, shorties cannot be solely blamed on the goalie. Those are always everything problems. PP's killed off, and it's 4-1 Isles after 40. At 39 seconds into the third period, it's Casey Mittelstadt again; his third in as many games cuts the deficit to two games. Now it looks like the Avs can get back in it, but Anthony Duclair ends that hope. Mathew Barzal puts in an empty netter, and just like that, the Avs are now 0-3.

Allow me to explain the title of this recap. Four minutes and 59 seconds. That's how long we've had a lead this season. Out of 180 minutes played this season, the Avalanche have had a lead in just a hair under five minutes. That's disastrous. The scoring has showed up. Mikko Rantanen and Casey Mittelstadt have three goals each. The goaltending has been messy. Even so, it's early. We have 79 games left. That's a lot of time to right this ship and get things back on track.

The Avalanche's homestand continues on Wednesday as we face the Boston Bruins, that game will air on TNT. It will conclude on Friday against the Anaheim Ducks. Just win those two games, and things can get back on track.

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