Eurolanche

Colorado wins home open 3-1

The Colorado Avalanche opens their home season against the defending Stanley Cup champs the L.A Kings. Avs line up remains unchanged after the lost to the Wild. Starting for the Avs Defense: Erik Johnson, Ryan Wilson; Forward: Matt Duchene, PA Parenteau, Gabriel Landeskog; Goalie: Semyon Varlamov. Nice opening ceremony for Landeskog for winning the Calder trophy.

Varlamov is tested early stoning a semi break away by Kyle Clifford among other good saves. Quickly after that the Avs go on the PK after Mark Olver gets called for a holding the stick penalty. The Avs manage to kill of their first penalty of the night. Kyle Clifford would get another chance. Late in the first he scores putting the Avs down 1-0. Not too long after Parenteau would end up in the box putting the Avs shorthanded once again. The Avs once again successfully kill off the penalty. The first period ends with LA up by 1 and leading in shots 12-6.

Early in the second Downie appears to be inured and is helped down the tunnel to the dressing room. Not long after the Avs go on the PK for the third time in the game. This time it was Jamie McGinn heading to the sin bin. Quick switch happens as Duchene using his speed picks off a sloppy LA pass and draws a penalty. Both teams have some chances on the 4-4 with neither team capitalizing. After some good chances by the Avs and some good saves by Quick. The Avs would once again end up shorthanded. This time it would be on Cody McLeod for slashing. The Avs once again kill off the penalty and are finally reward for some hard play by gaining their first PP of the night. The Avs then get rewarded even more with a 5-3 PP after Doughty high sticks Mitchell. Joe Sacco decides to put out five forward for the beginning of the 5-3. Quick makes some brilliant saves to help LA kill of both penalties. Not too long after Jan Hejda is the next Avalanche member to head to the sin bin. Once again the Avs manage to kill the penalty off to end the second still trailing 1-0. LA still holding an edge in shots after two periods 22-19

The Avs come how hard in the third and are rewarded. Landeskog get the goal to tie the game at 1. Jan Hedja gets the assist along with Duchene. Hedja need something positive after some horrible play in the first two periods. Right after that the Avs go back on the PP as Penner end up in the box for the second time for LA. David Jones gets his first of the season on the PP to give the Avs their first lead of the game 2-1. Paul Statsny has the lone assist on the goal. The goal comes right after Varlamov makes a big save on a shorthanded breakaway by LA. Not long after McLeod ends up in the box after some action in the crease. LA’s Drewiske also goes to the box so the game goes to 4-4 for the second time of the night. Duchene took a doughty shot to the face and had to get looked at. The first line was not phased at all by this as Parenteau get his first goal as an Avalanche. Eric Johnson and Ryan Wilson get the assist on the goal that gives the Avalanche a 3-1 lead a little over midway into the third. Duchene was back on the ice which was good news for the Avs who already lost Downie to an earlier knee injury. LA back on the PP for the 6 time of the night. This time Tyson Barrie ends up in the box. It seems without Downie on the ice all the Avs player feel the need to fill in. Varlamov makes some excellent saves at the Avs kill off another penalty. The Avalanche win their home opener with a big third period winning 3-1.

The Avalanche had a much better game. The first line looked a lot better including getting two goals tonight. The loss of Downie could be troublesome in the long term. It does give more time to someone like McLeod who has been making his presence felt early in this season. Both Hejda and Barrie had some subpar games. This could leave an opening for Shane O’Brien and Matt Hunwick to get into the lineup against the Blue Jackets.  Varlamov had another great game making some big saves and keeping the Avs in the game on all those PKs. Varlamov made 30 saves for the Avalanche in his first win.