Game 4: Not Good

Everything... and I mean everything went wrong.

The elephant in the room crushed everything before the circus could even start last night.

Inside of an hour before puck drop, the League dropped the bomb that Valeri Nichushkin was entering Stage 3 of the Player Assistance Program of the NHLPA and NHL. Gone for six months without pay. 

Not that his six-month suspension means much to the Avalanche who look like they’re just days away from a four-month suspension of their own from playing NHL games.

What followed in the hours after the news broke was one of the most uninspired performances by this group of Colorado players in a long time. I would go as far as to say that Monday’s 5-1 Game 4 loss was a worse performance than the 7-0 drubbing by the Jets at the end of the regular season that sent Avs fans into a tailspin on the eve of the postseason.