Georgie Owns Motown

You know, I am pretty blessed as a hockey fan. I may have been born too late to drink in the rivalry between the Quebec Nordiques and the Montreal Canadiens, but the heyday of the rivalry between the Colorado Avalanche and the Detroit Red Wings came at the perfect time for me. I was 10 when the Nordiques moved to Denver, and the rivalry pretty much began in that first year. The Avalanche/Red Wings rivalry was unique for many reasons. For one, it wasn't a divisional rivalry, yet it was more heated than most division rivalries. These two teams spent almost a decade jockeying for position in the Western Conference, and they ran into each other a lot when it counted the most.

There was also the star power. The Wings had guys like Sergei Federov, Steve Yzerman, and Brendan Shanahan, while the Avs had Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and this guy named Patrick Roy, who was traded to the Avs 29 years ago this week. The rivalry has lost some luster over the years. The Wings moving to the Eastern Conference will do that. On December 7, 2024, the Avs took that trip the Detroit for our third game on our five-game Eastern swing, and we were looking to make up for that bad loss in Raleigh.

Alexandar Georgiev was in net against Ville Husso, and this was pretty tame. Not much happened, just a bunch of back and forth between the teams, but the Avs would strike first. For the third time in two games, Valeri Nichushkin struck, and it was 1-0 Avs. The assists: Samuel Girard and Casey Mittelstadt, the latter needing a point badly. The only penalties in the period were matching minors very at near end of the frame, but after 20 minutes: 1-0 Good Guys. In the second, the Avs had an early power play, and we score on it, and it's Cale Makar. Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen assisted, but after that, the Wings were really pressing for a goal of their own. This included a great chance by our old boy, J.T. Compher, who was at the door, but Georgiev didn't let him in. I still remember those two goals he scored in Game Six against the Blues in 2022, and that was against none other than Ville Husso. Wow.

So Georgiev stopped that one, but he could not stop Lucas Raymond. He got the Wings on the board late in the frame, and it was a 2-1 score after 40 minutes. The third period was mostly quiet, but the thrills started once Husso was pulled for the extra attacker. Avs had two good chances at the empty net; one just missed wide, and another hit the post. I was actually pulling for a goalie goal from Georgie but we would not see that. Even so, the Avs held on.

Many apologies are owed to Alexandar Georgiev. Not from me, I actually support Georgie. I do not want to hear this tall tale about Georgiev being "inconsistent" or "unreliable" ever again. Did you see what Gorgeous George did for us? He won this thing nearly on his own. He's been having performances like this a lot for the Avs. This was a very quiet game, which proves what I've been saying about the Avs/Wings rivalry not having the luster it had in the latter half of the 90s and early 2000s. Even so, this was a much needed victory, and we are now 2-1 on this road trip.

On to New Jersey next, and that's the second half of a back-to-back, so chances are we'll see Scott Wedgewood against his old team. The road trip concludes in Pittsburgh, and Crosby vs MacKinnon is always interesting.

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