Just One of Those Nights

Monday was a once a year occurrence in the sports calendar: it was the Sports Equinox. The Sports Equinox occurs when all four of the main sports leagues plays actual relevant games on the same day, and it can only happen during World Series time, and even then, it can only happen on a Monday, Thursday, or Sunday, because those days feature NFL games. In the case of Monday, it was Game Three of the World Series and Monday Night Football occurring along with the day's NHL and NBA action.

The Colorado Avalanche participated in this year's Sports Equinox, as we were facing off against the Chicago Blackhawks in the second of a back-to-back following our 5-4 win over the Ottawa Senators. Justus Annunen started and won that game, but it was not easy, as he gave up four Ottawa goals in the 3rd period. With the back-to-back setting, that means that the unfairly maligned Alexandar Georgiev was in the net for that Monday outing against Petr Mrazek.

Not even a minute into the game, and the Avs had to go on the penalty kill. It was successful, but the shots weren't coming in. Then we had to go back on the PK. Hawks capitalize, and it's Philipp Kurashev. Little over a minute later, it's Casey Mittelstadt tying it up, but Lukas Reichel gave Chicago the lead back just 46 seconds later. It ends up being 3-1 for Chicago after Ryan Donato puts one in. Right after that, Avs go on the power play, and a minute later, it becomes a five-on-three. At the final minute, Nathan MacKinnon cuts our deficit in half, and the assists came from Cale Makar and Alexandar Georgiev. Georgie is owed an apology.

Avs trailed 3-2 after 20 minutes, and the second period didn't see too much happen. Avs had a pair of power play chances in the second frame, but neither of them amounted to much. The score remained the same after 40 minutes, and the third period continued to see Georgiev hold things down, but we could not get that tying goal. Finally, Georgiev was pulled for the extra attacker, Avs had chances and it looked like we would tie it, but instead, it was Ryan Donato netting his second in the final minute. Georgiev pulled again, but that only allowed Ilya Mikheyev to further ice it with an empty netter.

So the winning streak is over, but even so, 5-5 after an 0-4 start is amazing. The Avs have regained the stroke we've had for a few years now; the same strok that got us the Stanley Cup in 2022. This Monday outing was just one of those nights. The way I see it, it's time to start a new winning streak. Casey Mittelstadt is still on quite the roll to start the season, Cale Makar added a point, and MacKinnon's still MacKinnon. Also, with October coming to a close shortly, we are close to getting a few big names back. So this could be an interesting run for the Avs once the big boys return.

On Wednesday, the Avs' last October will take place, a home game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. After that, we will kick off the month of November in Nashville against the Predators; a day I've circled on my mental calendar because of how the Predators picked up so many big names over this past offseason.

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