Running Diary: Avs Fall Short in Game 7... Again.

Follow Along as Pat watches the first Game 7 in Denver in 9 years.

PREGAME

• Here we are… Game 7. Winner moves on to play Dallas, loser goes home and then to all their respective homes around the world after that, but only after their kids finish the school year… unless they don’t go to school in Denver like Jack Johnson’s kids… I DIGRESS. The point is: Game 7.

• How we got here: both teams won three games.

• Colorado’s 4-1 win in Game 6 pushed the series back to Denver. The best effort of the series for the Avs, they’ll need to duplicate that again if they’re going to hold down a deep and hard-nosed Kraken team once again.

• Injuries will be the defining factor for the home team tonight as the usual suspects are out, plus the newest addition to the cool kids club: Andrew Cogliano. I went into depth earlier about my thoughts on the hit, you can read that here.

• My expectations for tonight: Avs come out fired up after the events of Game 6 and the resulting news from its aftermath. I don’t think they want to fall behind for the seventh time in the series (which is an insane stat), so the hope is that they can build off the energy in the building and finally get on the board first. But as esteemed futbol coach Ted Lasso has said, “It’s the hope that kills you.” Well actually he says that he thinks it’s the lack of hope that gets you. So maybe we just have to keep hoping, and even if the team falls behind again still have hope that the boys in burgundy and blue can rip off another four-straight goals.

• I talked in my story earlier today that I was glad to see Brad Hunt expected to be in the lineup tonight. My esteemed colleague Mr. Adrian Dater on Twitter has voiced his opinion that he would prefer Kurtis MacDermid for intimidation and presence in the wake of the Jordan Eberle hit. While I do think there is a time and place for a response, I do not believe it is in Game 7 at the expense of a roster spot on an already depleted roster. It appears that Hunt will be the player inserted into the lineup. But in what capacity? Both players are taking the ice for warmups so only time will tell…

• Either way, Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar all still play for the Avalanche. That alone makes me like our chances.

GAME 7 HISTORIES

• Obviously, tonight marks the first Game 7 in Seattle’s franchise history as this is its first playoff series.

• For Colorado, this is the 13th Game 7 since the move to Denver in 1995. After starting 0-3, the Avs ripped off four-straight wins in the deciding contest, but have lost the last five. Those four straight were all in 2001 (2) and 2002 (2), making the second-round win against the San Jose Sharks in the latter the most recent occurrence. The core of this team has losses in both 2019 (San Jose) and 2020 (Dallas, in the bubble), while Nathan MacKinnon and Erik Johnson (and Gabe Landeskog) were members of the team when they suffered a miserable, heartbreaker to Minnesota at home in overtime.

• The Avs will also look to break an oddity in their postseason history. A win tonight would mark the first time Colorado has won a playoff series at home since beating Minnesota in Game 6 of the 2008 first round. That’s wild (pun kind of intended)! They’ve some series at home in that stretch, but their last six non-bubble series wins have all ended on the road.

• It’s the first Game 7 for netminder Alexander Georgiev, while Phillipp Grubauer has a Game 7 loss to his credit as a member of the Avalanche. Grubi allowed three goals in the loss on the road at San Jose that closed out the 2019 season.

• None of that really matters, though. Anything can happen tonight. Just as we’re seeing in Boston right now.

• A win would…
  …Bring Dallas to Denver for Game 1 some time this week.
  …Be the first home playoff series win since 2008.
  …Be awesome.

• A loss would…
  …Send the Kraken to the Lone Star State to take on Dallas on the road for Games 1 and 2.
  …Be the sixth straight Game 7 loss for Colorado dating back to 2002.
  …Suck (but not as bad as previous years considering we won the Stanley Cup like 10 months ago).

What’s your range of emotions right now as we are inside an hour until puck drop?

Thanks for following along or reading after the fact… either way: Go Avs Go!

-Pat