Avalanche Game 42 Recap: Impostors

Boy, does this feel good!

Entering this night, I had said that the Colorado Avalanche owed the Vegas Golden Knights an ass-whipping, though it was not a few months in the making. The 7-0 drubbing that the Golden Knights gave us was just part of it. We had owed them an ass-kicking ever since the evening of June 10, 2023. What happened on that date, you ask? The Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup. Our Stanley Cup. Granted, that Cup's going to go from team to team, with some lucky teams holding it for two or three years, but still, Vegas should be thanking Seattle for that upstart upset last year.

The first meeting didn't go as planned for the good guys, so this was Take Two in Ball Arena. Alexandar Georgiev was in net against Jiri Patera, as neither Adin Hill nor Logan Thompson were available. Shots were 2-0 in Vegas' favor until the road team received the first power play. Of course they did. Vegas added three more shots, but none of them went in. After the successful kill, the Avs went on the power play, but it was a complete blank. The shots piled up for Colorado, and they would kill another Vegas power play later on. It looked like the first period would end scoreless, but within the final half minute, the Avs received another power play. With 13.8 seconds left, Valeri Nichushkin made it 1-0, with the assists coming from Mikko Rantanen and Jonathan Drouin.

1-0 was the score in Colorado's favor after 20 minutes, and the second period saw the shots pile up for the Avs, even though the team would be shorthanded again. Penalty was killed off, and then the Avs received another power play. This one succeeded, and it was Nichushkin again. Seriously, it's amazing how Nichushkin has performed this season. I'm still grateful for the four goals he scored in the Final, but I think this season was all about proving himself after last year's playoffs saw rumors of where Val was during the series against Seattle. Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon had the helpers, continuing the home points streak for the latter.

Colorado led 2-0 after two periods, and I swear, by this time, Vegas looked absolutely spent and washed. It was clear that they were having their hands held by the zebras (business as usual), but despite this, nothing was going in at all. Avs remained in control in the third, and during that frame, Logan O'Connor made it 3-0. All that was left to do was to countdown the remaining minutes until we officially had a shutout, while trying our best not to say that word.

If there are any Alexandar Georgiev deniers and doubters, apologize now. What more do you need to realize that Georgiev not only should be a Vezina candidate this year, he should have won the thing last year?! Look what he's doing! Look what he's done since going to the Avalanche. This is his 63rd win since joining the Avs, and it's only been a season and a half. Don't give me that "Look at the team he's on" nonsense, because by that "logic," Andrei Vasilevskiy shouldn't have won the Vezina in 2019. And the same people who use that excuse to deny Georgiev his flowers are the same people who refuse to put Nathan MacKinnon in Hart Trophy consideration. You can't have your cake and eat it too! You cannot say that Georgiev's only good because the team's good, yet refuse to put MacKinnon in the Hart picture. Oh, and regarding Vasi's Vezina in 2019? It also came with a Hart, Ross, and Lindsay for Nikita Kucherov, Jon Cooper was up for the Adams, and Victor Hedman was a Norris finalist. But I guess it's only the Avalanche who aren't allowed to clean up in the NHL Awards. My bad.

This 3-0 win for Vegas was absolutely delicious! We made the Golden Knights look like a bunch of pawns! Patera didn't know what to do in net; of course, the Avs have humbled much, much better goalies than Patera (again, ask Vasilevskiy). Despite the officials holding Vegas' hands, the Avs shut them down big time, and we are keeping pace with the Winnipeg Jets in the Central Division. To play off the words of the legendary John Cena, "The real Champs are here!"

The three game homestand is now finished, and the Avalanche are now headed east for a five game road trip. The first three games of that road trip will be in Eastern Canada, and it begins on Saturday in Toronto against the Maple Leafs.

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