It's Like 2022 Never Ended

Coming off a two game Pacific Division road trip, the Colorado Avalanche returned home to Ball Arena for a Tuesday night game on TNT. Our opponents? A team very near and dear to us: the Tampa Bay Lightning. Three full seasons have passed since that magical Cup Final; the Avs facing the Bolts in a true clash of heavyweight titans. Lightning were looking to win their third straight Stanley Cup, but instead, it was the Avs winning Cup #3 overall--a six-game victory. In the time that has passed, the Avs have only advanced once, but that's one more than the Lightning, who haven't won a playoff series since the 2022 Eastern Conference Final.

Regarding this contest, it was Scott Wedgewood in net against Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Bolts scored first and fast, and it was Nikita Kucherov because of course it was. Of course it was #86. That goal was unassisted. Shortly afterwards, we see Gabriel Landeskog get in a scrap with this new kid, Charle-Edouard D'Astous. I found myself pulling for my Captain, of course, but also couldn't help but give D'Astous some credit for hanging in there the way he did. Avs later received back-to-back power plays. First one was killed off, second one wasn't. Victor Olofsson ties it up on the power play, and the assists came from Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas.

It was 1-1 after 20 minutes, but the Avs weren't done. Olofsson struck again and gave the Avs the lead, and barely over a minute later, it was Ross Colton who put one in on a near breakaway! It was 3-1 just like that, and that was the score after 40 minutes. In the third period, an early Bolts power play was killed off, but right after it ended, Brayden Point cut our lead in half. Bolts pulled the goalie late, but similar to a certain game that was played on the last Sunday of June 2022, the Avs didn't get the empty netter, and didn't need it.

A 3-2 victory for the Avs over the Tampa Bay Lightning, and with that, the Avs are the first to reach 20 points in the standings. Victor Olofsson netted a pair of goals, and this was about a week after he had his first hat trick of his career. We dominated in shots, and we got the right goals in the right time. I know it's early. I know the season's about a month old, but right now, the Avs are the most dangerous team in the league. Our only problem so far is OT. We need to get the OT wins this season, but even so, we are still looking so good. A big win against the team we won #3 against, and from the looks of it, we have a good chance of winning Cup #4 this season.

Next up for the Avs is a brief trip to Western Canada for two games in as many days. On Saturday, we're in Edmonton facing off against the Oilers, and on Sunday, we head further west to Vancouver to face the Canucks. After that, we return home for a meeting with the surprising Anaheim Ducks, and that game will air on TNT on Tuesday, November 11. Things are definitely looking up for the Colorado Avalanche this year, and we'll see what this amazing and awesome start will become as the season marches on.

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