The Magic Number

Things are slowly looking up for the Colorado Avalanche. After an 0-4 start, the Avs have racked up back-to-back wins. Yes, the wins were against the Anaheim Ducks and the San Jose Sharks, not exactly the cream of the crop, but one has to crawl before one can walk. The win in San Jose was the first game in a brief three game road trip. Regarding Game 7 of this season, it would take place in Seattle against the Kraken.

Now, this was a special night in the NHL season, as this was the 2nd annual Frozen Frenzy, which has all 32 teams playing. The phenomenon was born last year, and featured a tripleheader on ESPN, while ESPN2 had the Frozen Frenzy program, which was basically the NHL's equivalent of NFL RedZone. I still remember Scott Hansen, who hosts RedZone, gave his vocal support to the NHL's version last year, and it was definitely a success, hence why they decided to do this whole thing again this season.

Regarding the goalies, it was Justus Annunen versus Philipp Grubauer, and it was a slow start for the Avs at first. The Kraken had the first seven shots of the game, and the Avs' first shot on net didn't come until just after five minutes into the game. The Avs started get more shots, but nothing was going in until Joel Kiviranta banked one in at 18:32. Sam Malinski had the only assist, and the Avs led 1-0 after a penalty free first period.

In the 2nd period, the Avalanche's shots started to increase vastly. It helped that the Avs received the game's first power play during that period. Killed off, and the Kraken gained momentum. At the heart of the 2nd, Jared McCann broke away with the puck and put it in, so the game was tied. The Kraken wouldn't enjoy being dead even with the Avs for very long, as just a hair under three minutes later, Kiviranta struck again. The assists came from Cale Makar and Ivan Ivan, and the Avs regained the lead. Avs received a late power play, and Nathan MacKinnon, with eight seconds left, made it 3-1.

The 3rd period saw the Avs on the power play 29 seconds in. That was killed off, and the period progressed with the score holding up. Grubauer was pulled with about three and a half minutes left. MacKinnon scores an empty netter, but it's taken off the board. Offside. At 18:00 exactly, the Kraken receive a power play, making it six on four with the goalie pulled. The Kraken did score, but that goal came with 3.5 ticks left, so the Avs managed to escape with a victory.

The Avalanche have now won three in a row, and from what I saw, the Avs that I know are back. This was a typical Avalanche game, the type of game I've been seeing from the Avs for about four years now. Joel Kiviranta scored twice, and has three goals in the last two games. Nathan MacKinnon added another goal, but the story is Cale Makar. In only seven games, he has 14 points (2 G/12 A). Two points per game. He's on a big roll to start this season. This game was one of 10 of the 16 games that saw the road team victorious.

The Avalanche's brief road trip concludes with the team's very first trip to Salt Lake City to face off against the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday. After that, the Avs end the month of October with a three-game homestand against the Ottawa Senators (Sunday), the Chicago Blackhawks (Monday), and the Tampa Bay Lightning (Next Wednesday).

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