The Colorado Avalanche certainly aren’t wasting time avenging their four game ouster at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights in last year’s Western Conference Final.
The Avalanche could have gone into this season tapping the gas and slowly easing into things. Instead, they floored it and took off like the powerhouse they are. Two games. Fourteen goals. Two wins. If the Avalanche wanted to send an early message to the rest of the NHL, consider it delivered.
The Avalanche opened the season by hanging eight goals on the Los Angeles Kings. Three nights later, they dismanted the St. Louis Blues 6-1 at Ball Arena, and tying a franchise record with 14 goals through the first two games of a season.
According to Coby Maeir of ColoradoAvalanche.com, that tied a franchise record with the 1992-93 Quebec Nordiques who also accomplished the feat in their first two games of the season.
No one is engraving the Avalanche’s name on the Stanley Cup just yet, but the start is a reminder of why the Avs are a Cup contender this year. Nathan MacKinnon scored a pair in Colorado’s 8-4 opening night win against Los Angeles. Artturi Lehkonen also netted a couple. Brock Nelson had three points and 13 Avalanche players found their name on the scoresheet. On top of that, the Avalanche went 4-for-5 on the man advantage.
Against the Blues, they didn’t need it. Martin Necas scored twice and added an assist. MacKinnon had three helpers. Lehkonen scored again, while Cale Makar, Josh Manson and Nicholas Roy also found the back of the net. The time, the Avalanche didn’t score a single power-play goal.
The Avalanche came into the season knowing they had stars. What they have been trying to figure out is whether the pieces around their stars are good enough to make another serious run at the Stanley Cup. Two games won’t solve that riddle, but they’ve certainly provided an interesting start.
After the win over the Blues, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar pointed to the improvements his team made from its openers, according to Ryan Boulding of NHL.com.
“I can’t think of one thing that we talked about after last game and went through that we didn’t implement into our game and improve on,” Bednar said. “We knew they were coming in under tough circumstances on a back-to-back, and it’s early in the year and you’re not used to playing two games in a row. So we wanted to jump on them, and I thought our guys did a good job with their skating and energy, no question.”
There will be nights when the goals don’t flow like wine in Napa Valley. There will be losing streaks and injuries will happen. The season will eventually come considerably more difficult than Colorado has made it look through its first 120 minutes. The Avalanche have spent two games reminding everyone exactly what they can be. Fourteen goals later, it’s difficult not to notice.
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