Avalanche Game 8 Recap: Shuffle Off to Buffalo

As the saying goes, "You can't win 'em all," and the Colorado Avalanche found that out in Pittsburgh when the team was blanked by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The loss snapped a 15-game road winning streak, but even so, the Avalanche entered their latest contest already at 4-1 away from Ball Arena. The three-game East Coast swing concluded in Buffalo, as the Avs were facing off against the Sabres. The Sabres are expected to end their league-long playoff drought this season, but they are off to a shaky start. As for Colorado, they're looking to rebound off their first loss of the season.

Opening frame saw opportunities from both teams, but nothing was going in for the Avs. Keep in mind, while I was watching the Avs, I was also watching the early NFL action, so I was switching my attention between my TV and my tablet (the latter I had on ESPN+). Unfortunately, I did attentively see JJ Peterka put one in for the Sabres, giving Buffalo a 1-0 lead, which held up at the end of the period. The Avalanche were on the power play at the end of the frame, but it ended up killed off early in the second. More on that later.

Casey Mittelstadt made it 2-0 for Buffalo, just 99 seconds into the second period. Oh boy. Avs continued to not get anything past Ukka-Pekko Luukkonen (I'm a fan of his just because of the name alone), and later in the period, Tyson Jost (an ex-Avalanche player) made it 3-0. In my mind, I'm thinking, "Not again." This just happened to the Avs on Thursday, now it's happening again. Even worse, we see Kyle Okposo deliver a dirty hit to Cale Makar, with no penalty called. Yet Nathan MacKinnon received two and 10 for letting the official know that he's an idiot. Ay caramba.

Avs trailed 3-0 after 40 minutes, and thankfully, the third period began with Cale Makar back on the bench. However, that didn't do anything to help the offense; Avs couldn't get anything through, and after the goalie was pulled with three minutes left, it allowed Buffalo to ice the game. Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo's big money defenseman (well deserved, by the way), shot it in the empty net. Avs had a very late power play, and I was pulling for the Avs to just hatch our goose egg, but to no avail.

What we saw in the aftermath of the Cale Makar hit is, sadly, a recurring thing when it comes to the Avalanche being on the receiving end of dirty hits. Refs and Player Safety do not care about the Avs. I've seen so many instances where Avs players are on the receiving end of dirty hits, and nothing gets done. Player safety twiddles their thumbs. Refs swallow their whistles. Look at last year's playoffs. Makar got suspended for a relatively clean hit on Jared McCann, yet Jordan Eberle breaks Andrew Cogliano's neck, and nothing happens. Even worse, regarding this game, MacKinnon's justified indignance got him 12 penalty minutes. Refs and Player Safety could care less about the safety of Avs players; it goes back as far as the Steve Moore incident. Even worse, when we Avs fans state this, we're deemed as "crybabies" by people who claim that the Avs get all sorts of calls. Give me a break.

I also promised to mention the power play. It was 0-for-6. In the two losses, the Avs' PP went a combined 0-for-11. That's not good. It comes after the PP was heating up a bit, but at least it's early. This game was Colorado's last in the month of October. Back-to-back losses sucks, but still, 6-2-0 is a pretty good start. As for the stats, Mikko Rantanen ends the month leading in all of the main categories--5 goals, 7 assists, 12 total points. Makar's second with 9 points (3 G/6 A), while MacKinnon is third with seven points (4 G/3 A). Regarding the new players, Ryan Johansen leads with five points, with four of them being goals, and three of those four coming on the power play. Tomas Tatar has four points (all helpers), and we are waiting for Ross Colton (G/A), Miles Wood (goal), and Jonathan Drouin (assist) to heat up. They will. There's 74 of these things remaining.

The Avalanche return home on Wednesday with a meeting with the St. Louis Blues. However, it's November 4 that I'm waiting on: our first crack at the Vegas Golden Knights!

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