Year 30 Begins!

30 years. Hard to believe that it's been 30 years since the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver and became the Colorado Avalanche. I was 10 years old when the move happened. I was in the fifth grade when that season started, and it ended with the first of three Stanley Cups won. Now, here it is, Year #30. Year #29, despite it being Nathan MacKinnon's number, did not end well for us. It didn't start well for us either. An 0-4 start that saw us go through a lot of players--49 of them, to be exact.

Then, the deal of all deals. Mikko Rantanen was traded. Originally, he went to the Hurricanes for Martin Necas and Jack Drury, but the Moose ended up sent to Dallas. Despite it all, we ended up in the playoffs, but that saw us defeated by Dallas in a series that saw the refs totally work for Dallas, Mikko Rantanen embarrass us with a Hat Trick, but it also saw one bright spot: Gabriel Landeskog returned.

Regarding the offseason, we welcomed Victor Olofsson and Brent Burns to the team; yes, Brent Burns--he of the magnificent beard and the many years with the Sharks and Hurricanes. We also let Jonathan Drouin go, sent to the New York Islanders. And very recently, Erik Johnson called it a career, and that was emotional for us Avs fans. EJ was the first player to touch the Stanley Cup after Landeskog on that night in 2022, and he was there with us during our tough times and our good times, the best time being the evening of June 26, 2022. As for me, I was extra confident entering this season. Our captain's back, there's an extra boldness within the team, and with the way we lost last year, there's really nowhere else to go but up.

So where did we begin our 30th season since the move? In La La Land. An opening night tripleheader ended with the Avalanche in LA against the Kings, who were also coming off a first-round exit--their yearly embarrassment against the Oilers. The Kings also had some news of their own. For one, John Kelly--who had spent over two decades as the play-by-play voice of the St. Louis Blues--is now the new voice of the Kings. And secondly, it was announced that their longtime captain, Anze Kopitar, would be calling it a career after this season, which will be his 20th.

In net for the Avs was Scott Wedgewood, making the start in place of our usual starter, Mackenzie Blackwood. Wedgewood was going up against a familiar face to us Avs fans: Darcy Kuemper, who was in net for us during our Cup run in 2022. It was a mostly quiet first period. LA led in shots for half of the frame, then we started taking over. A fight breaks out between Josh Manson and Jeff Malott at 18:27, and while they do receive five minutes each, Malott received an extra two for instigating. So for the first time this season, the Avs were on the power play.

First period ended scoreless, and the second period began with the rest of the penalty killed off. Seconds after the power play ended, Martin Necas scores the Avs' first goal of the season. The assists came from Nathan MacKinnon (one point down, at least 99 to go) and Artturi Lehkonen. We were far from being done. Avs continued to really press for more, and we got it. Sam Malinski made it 2-0 at 7:00 even. Avs had another power play, that was killed off, but minutes later, Lehkonen made it 3-0! The assists on that goal came from Cale Makar and MacKinnon. Similar to the first, the Avs had a power play to end the second.

3-0 after 40 minutes, and the rest of the penalty was killed off. Finally, LA received their first PP when Brent Burns committed an infraction. We killed it off, and then we killed another one. Already, I was elated with this game, because this was a much better start than last year. Avs had another PP, that was killed off, but the next one we got finally worked. Necas again, with Makar and Brock Nelson assisting. It looked like the shutout would be on the horizon, but the refs decided to fuck with MacKinnon and put him in the box for no reason. LA power play became 5-on-3 after Manson's penalty, and the shutout ended seconds later. Kevin Fiala put it in, with he assists coming from the two AKs: Adrian Kempe and Anze Kopitar. The rest of regulation saw a number of scuffles take place, but the score held up.

The Avalanche won, 4-1, over the Kings, already starting much better than we did last year. Martin Necas scored our first goal of the year, and also scored our first PPG of the season. Necas was one of four players with two points, joining MacKinnon, Makar, and Lehkonen on that list. This was a game we totally dominated, and even better, it was on the road against a 2025 playoff team. Once we took over the shots lead in the latter half of the first period, we never looked back.

I know it's only the first game (one down, 81 to go), but already, I sense a great season for the Avs this year. Next up for the Avs is our home opener on Thursday against the Utah Mammoth (yes, the former Utah Hockey Club has a name now). After that, we welcome the Dallas Stars on Saturday.

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