Reinforcements
The Colorado Avalanche get many key players back, but still fall to the Washington Capitals
It was a happy day for fans of the Colorado Avalanche. The team won all three games in this homestand at this point, and it was finally happening: the key players are coming back. Miles Wood had been sidelined for a bit, but he was coming back. A bigger one was Jonathan Drouin, he had been out for pretty much the whole season. Drouin was part of our top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, and he had quite the first season with the Avs last year. Him being back is a huge boost.
But let's talk about the biggest name in this return: Valeri Nichushkin.
Nichushkin's return was from a suspension from violating the league's policy once again. My feelings about Val are quite straightforward. Is he an amazing key player for us? Yes. Has he come through for us on the ice? Yes. Am I grateful to him for those four goals he scored in the Final in 2022? Hell yes! Am I pissed off at Val for leaving us hanging for a second straight postseason? Again, hell yes. When it happened in 2023, I was so upset. We were defending our Cup, and we looked good enough to repeat. If Val was there for us against Seattle, we'd have beaten the Kraken. Last year, Val tore it up in the playoffs with seven goals in the first round alone! Then, it happened again. Another incident and violation when we needed him. We lose to Dallas. If Val was there for us against Dallas, we'd have beaten the Stars.
We gave Val a big time extension, and I really wanted the Avs to buy him out or trade him. I was that upset. Even so, I was happy that Val would be back. However, I'd have to believe that this is his last chance to make things right.
The Avalanche's homestand concluded on Friday against the Washington Capitals, and while there was a lot of good news about the returning players, one player was out for the Avs, and it was one I sure as hell didn't expect: Alexandar Georgiev. An injury sidelined him for this outing, so it would be Justus Annunen in net against Charlie Lindgren. Two minutes in, Parker Kelly makes it 1-0 for the Avs. It had been a minute since we scored first in a game, and there it was. However, 39 seconds in, Calvin de Haan's called for tripping--an obvious trip. Caps power play ties it up, and it was Jakub Vrana, with the assists coming from Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Ovechkin. Just over three minutes later, Connor McMichael made it 2-1 for Washington. Three total goals were scored in very few combined shots. Wow.
And you know, I've never mentioned it on Vocal before, but it's amusing how many "Connor"s there are in the NHL. Connor McDavid, Connor McMichael, Connor Hellebuyck, Connor Bedard, Kyle Connor, Conor Garland (yes, there's one "n" in his case, but still).
Anyway, the Avs were down 2-1 after 20 minutes, and 1:53 into the 2nd period, it was McMichael again. That was it for Annunen. He faced six Washington shots, and half of them went in. So in came Trent Miner. Who's he? Well, Miner's our new third string goalie because we just got rid of Kaapo Kahkonen. Yeah. It did look like we were about to come back, as Nikolai Kovalenko cut our deficit to one, but we couldn't get the equalizer, and Jakob Chychrun made it 4-2. That was the score after 40, and the third didn't see much until we had the extra attacker on. We tried to get something going, but couldn't. Ovechkin had his eye on the empty net to add to his overall total, but no go. Rasmus Sandin put it in very late, but it was already over.
At least Ovechkin didn't score on us! I'm dead serious, that's the positive I took from this. That, and Miles Wood having point in this game. This was our first game with the team at full force, or very very close to it, this season, so yeah, it'll take some time to get that old chemistry back. But when we do, look out! It's still a good homestand. Avs took three of four. We're 9-9 after an 0-4 start. Things still look good. We're still missing Ross Colton, but we still have enough to really scare the rest of the league.
The homestand is over, and the Avalanche will go on a four game road trip which will start on Monday in Philadelphia. After that, we'll be off to DC on Thursday, and on Saturday, it's a date in Sunrise against the defending Stanley Cup Champions. The road trip concludes on the 25th in Tampa Bay.
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About the Creator
Clyde E. Dawkins
I'm a big sports fan, especially hockey, and I've been a fan of villainesses since I was eight! My favorite shows are The Simpsons and Family Guy, etc.
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You've definitely scored big with this new story.