I will admit, that when I heard that Patrick Roy was going to be the head coach of the Colorado Avalanche, it was like Christmas morning for me. Roy was my childhood hockey crush. He is, in my opinion, the greatest goaltender ever - even though I do recognize Martin Brodeur's talents. Roy also has the bonus of being batshit insane, and someone who takes shit off of no one. I assumed that he'd eventually turn the Avs around, but it'd at least be entertaining as hell while he was working on it.
I didn't expect them to turn around so fast. The Avalanche are the second best team in the NHL with 28 points, tied with Chicago and two behind Anaheim's 31. No one expected them to play like this, especially after spending a few seasons at the bottom.
Everyone on that team's good. Gabriel Landeskog has six goals and eight assists. Matt Duchene has 11 goals and eight assists. Newcomer Nathan MacKinnon has only two goals, but he also has nine assists. Both J.S. Giguere and Semyon Varlamov have GAAs so tiny you need to squint to see them.
This isn't last year's Avs team. Which is probably either really good or really bad, because that team (and the season before, and the season before that) were Blues Kryptonite... on the road.
At home the Blues've won four in a row. Will the make it five? Who knows. Go on and predict the score here, and don't forget to stop by the nice folks at Mile High Hockey to say hi. Bring an oxygen tank.
Check back later on today for a Lighting the Lamp, a preview, a GDT, and a recap from TBD (not RBR).