DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche's home building, 26-year-old Puck Arena, is a blandly serviceable midpoint between the old-school kookiness of Calgary's Saddledome and the blinding shininess of Edmonton's Rogers Place. But it's what's on the inside that counts, and credit where it's due: Neither of the two Canadian rinks that I visited on this mountain-time hockey trip came close to the atmosphere at the Avs' shootout win over the Wild on Sunday afternoon.
You might say it's easier for a weekend matinee to supply a team with a packed house, because it's an ideal time for a lot of families to go to their one hockey game a year. But the start time doesn't inherently guarantee close attention, and that was a huge part of what made this early-bird game memorable. This was a turbocharged crowd that locked in for the final regular season match-up between two great division rivals from the moment the puck dropped. The fans welcomed back trade-deadline reacquisition Nazem Kadri, of the '22 Cup team, like he was Peter Forsberg, and they went nuts just for a backchecking dispossession he pulled off early in the game. They gassed up goaltender Scott Wedgewood with "Wedgie" chants during his first-star-worthy performance, answering a question I had about whether he went by "Wedgie" or "Woody." They made especially loud "Oh!"s on missed attempts that hit my ears like an express train wooshing through a local station. They got exasperated with the zebras who displayed an abundance of caution on faceoffs. They kept the aisles remarkably clear as the vast majority took intermission as their only cue that it was safe to do business on the concourse. And when the Avs found the back of the net, everyone—not "a lot of people," but everyone—rose to their feet, like it was some deeper evolutionary response to seeing a goal.
I hesitate to call this a playoff-game feel, because there's an undercurrent of fear to the cheering when there's so much on the line. These were just thousands of people who were so excited to see the Avalanche play hockey. And why wouldn't they be? The Avs may be coming off a heartbreaking first-round loss to the Stars in last year's postseason, but they've played this year at a level that no other NHL team's been able to match. They're tops in the league at both scoring goals and preventing them. They've got the game's leading scorer in Nathan MacKinnon and the reigning Norris winner in Cale Makar. They're getting a randomly fantastic season out of the journeyman Wedgewood. The depth guys are doing their jobs. And relative newcomers to the club Brock Nelson and Marty Nečas are paying off at a level beyond what anyone reasonably expected. Watching live, it's instantly recognizable how fast this team is, how much chemistry they have, and how much trouble the defense has keeping up. Even on Colorado's chances that don't work out, you can often see what they were thinking and appreciate the beauty they would have achieved if they'd just crossed the goal line, like looking at a sketch from a master painter.
(A quick aside for those who know me. Yes, I was born in Michigan in 1995, which means a certain amount of dislike toward the Avalanche is inextricable from my soul. But the Wings and the Avs aren't even in the same conference anymore, and as the distance from their rivalry has increased, I've found myself feeling more grateful for Colorado's existence than anything else. The Avalanche helped give me some of my favorite memories from my early hockey-watching days, so how could I be anything but appreciative?)
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that a "Let's go Wild!" away-fan chant took shape when Minnesota scored its first goal. These fans, too, have plenty to be excited about as the Wild aim for nothing short of the best season in franchise history—i.e. at least nine playoff wins—and fight desperately to avoid the lethal-looking Stars in a first-round series that would match the division's second- and third-place teams. The all-in-one scorer Kirill Kaprizov might be the most exciting player in the league without a Gaelic last name. A couple of their key younger guys, winger Matt Boldy and defenseman Brock Faber, are developing beautifully. Quinn Hughes is playing 28 minutes a night as the crown jewel of the season's most impactful trade. And the goalies have been stellar. On Sunday, we got the rookie sensation (technically the back-up) Jesper Wallstedt, who wowed me especially with his positioning. Even at just 23 years old, he never seemed to overanticipate the action. He stayed focused on where he needed to be in the present moment, and he didn't leave his net vulnerable by moving faster than the puck.
When the Wild are at their best, they can match what the Avalanche do. In nearly every respect, this game felt like a draw, and after 65 minutes that's exactly what it was. The Avs had the upper hand in the early going, but it was still 0-0 after the first period. In the second, Minnesota did more to disrupt the home team, holding possession for longer periods especially when their top guys were on the ice against Colorado's lower lines. It was MacKinnon, however, who broke the ice and made it 1-0 at the end of two off a Hughes misplay behind the Wild net and a good aggressive assist from Kadri.
Early in the third was where some of the "Oh"s from the crowd sounded uglier and more distressed, like what you usually hear when you hit three random spots on a keyboard. Kaprizov forced an Avalanche own goal on the power play, and when the Wild were shorthanded a few minutes later, Nico Sturm broke loose with the puck for a breakaway score. But Nic Roy, another Avs deadline add, leveled the game with a feisty equalizer that he earned off a deflection. Woody—no, sorry, Wedgie—stood tall from there, and this game came down to a shootout.
The bonus minigame was 1-1 after the allotted three rounds, as the returning hero Kadri missed a potential game-winning chance that, had he converted, might have forced the Avs to play in a temporary home for the rest of the season. The consolation prize for Kadri's miss was still very sweet: Nathan MacKinnon, with the game on his stick, sped straight toward Wallstedt faster than I think the goalie expected , and that strategic edge gave him a chance to pick his spot and score. The crowd, already mostly on its feet, all got to scream in union. Well, minus the Minnesota contingent. My big takeaway at the final horn: I don't know if I've ever personally witnessed so much talent all in one hockey game.
