Teed Off

Entering this Saturday matinee game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars, I had all of the confidence in the world that we'd totally dominate Dallas. The reason is simple: when a team is embarrassed in any way, shape, or form, that team bites back big time. In the Avs' case, it was losing to the Edmonton Oilers after leading 3-0. So yeah, we're revved up and pretty angry.

Another attribute that inspired us: while this is the second meeting of the season between the Stars and Avs, this is the first meeting at Ball Arena since Game Six of Round 2 last year. The double overtime thriller that ended Colorado's season. Add Nathan MacKinnon's seated reaction on the ice on the list of things that haunts Avs fans.

Scott Wedgewood was back in net for the first time since the game against the Sabres a couple of weeks ago, and the ex-Dallas Star was battling against Casey DeSmith (who will always be a Penguin to me). The first shot of the game belonged to Dallas, and it went in, and of course, it was Matt Duchene. The same man who ended the Avs season last year struck first for Dallas. It was a power play goal at that. So Dallas' lone shot stood for a while, when the Avs had a number of shots saved, even on our first power play. However, when we needed it, Casey Mittelstadt came through and tied it up, and yeah, Avs fans owe Mighty Casey a huge apology. Artturi Lehkonen had the only assist, and it was 1-1 after 20.

Avs took over the second period big time. After one power play was killed off, another was successful, and it was Cale Makar, scoring goal #100 of his career. Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen assisted, but we were not done. Less than two minutes later, Lehkonen broke away and made it 3-1, but some point after that, we see Makar heading to the back after a shot struck him. While we fans had our fingers crossed hoping Cale would be good, Jonathan Drouin made it 4-1, and that was career goal #100 for him as well.

So the good news was that the Avs led 4-1 after 40 minutes, and even better, Makar was back on the on the ice. Even more good news, Lehkonen scored again to make it 5-1. So yeah, this one was in the bag, but not so fast. Jason Robertson had something to say, and he decided to cut our lead to three goals. Stars went on the power play right after, and Robertson struck again. Two goals in less than a minute to make it 5-3. However, Makar would strike back just under 90 seconds later; putting in career goal #101--one for every Dalmatian.

The Avs won this game, 6-3, and this was a big one. This was a huge four-point game for the Avs, as both teams were jockeying for position in the Central Division. The win placed the Avs in a tie with Dallas, but Dallas still has two games in hand over Colorado. However, with the Minnesota Wild and the Winnipeg Jets both losing, that placed the Avs one point out of second place, and eight points out of first, both salvageable deficits. I mentioned four points, that's what Lehkonen had. Two goals and two assists for Lehky. Makar had a pair of goals, and Drouin had a goal and two helpers. Two players reaching goal-scoring milestones in this game, and Scott Wedgewood did well in his first start in two weeks.

Next up is another four-point game for the Avs, a meeting with the Minnesota Wild on Monday. After that, the five-game homestand concludes on Wednesday against the Winnipeg Jets. We can make a serious dent in the Central Division with these next two games.

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