By Jordan Long
The Colorado Avalanche started the 2021 season last night. Going into their first game against the St. Louis Blues, Colorado was one of the favorites to win the Cup this year. They were coming off a game 7 overtime defeat against the Dallas Stars in the second round. Colorado added firepower to their team in the offseason trading for forward Brandon Saad and signing defenseman Devon Toews. Both of these moves were going to help Colorado advance further this year.
Colorado started the year with a bang, scoring a power play goal by Andre Burakovsky 4 minutes and 55 seconds into the contest. After that, it was all St. Louis. The Blues lit the lamp 4 times to skate away with a 4-1 victory. The Blues outshot Colorado 32-27. Colorado coughed up the puck too much in their defensive zone which gave the Blues odd-man rushes and breakaways.
According to Denverpost.com, Head Coach of the Avalanche Jared Bednar said, “We just got outworked. We just didn’t have enough guys compete tonight. Right from the start, not ready to go. Lazy habits, hoping it was going to be easier than what it was. It showed.”
The Colorado Avalanche have to remember this was game 1 of 56. Sure this isn’t the beginning of the season they wanted, but other teams fell just as badly including the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Chicago Blackhawks. Pittsburgh gave up 3 third period goals to fall to the Philadelphia Flyers 6-3. The Chicago Blackhawks were outplayed against the defending Stanley Cup Champions Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1.
The other dilemma with Colorado and the rest of the NHL is they didn’t play preseason games like years past. Colorado only had training camp. This is where they worked on the power play, power play kill, and full strength but it was against their own teammates. There wasn’t any hitting or physical play like they saw last night. They may have skated slower in practice. If there had been preseason games, Colorado might have looked like a better team. They wouldn’t have turned the puck over as much. The Avs would also have some chemistry together with their lines.
Sure it was a tough loss last night, but Colorado is going to be fine. They will face the Blues tomorrow in hopes of evening their record. This is no time to panic. They are still going to be a great team once they gel. If Colorado is 0-4-1 or a 0-5-0, then there should be concern about this team.
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