The Yeti Cave

An Up and Coming Colorado Avalanche Blog. Run by Lisa, Alex and Marnie. Look for Yeti Cave Original content and make sure to ask us questions and leave your opinions on the Avs! Tags to Check Out: Game Previews Game Reviews Player Highlights Infographics Olympic Coverage

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Colorado loses both starting goalies to injury as the Senators rally past the Avs 5-3

It all started so well for struggling Colorado Avalanche, who were looking for their second win of the season on Thursday night. Instead, they lost 5-3 to the Ottawa Senators.

Nathan MacKinnon and Daniel Briere helped set up Alex Tannguay for his first goal of the season just 1:25 into the first period and the Avs started to look like the high powered offensive team from last year until disaster struck.

Shortly after the Avs took a 1-0 lead, backup goaltender Reto Berra was plowed into by the Colorado’s John Mitchell and Kyle Turris of the Senators as the two battled for possession down low. Berra, who was starting in place of the injured Semyon Varlamov, had to be helped off the ice while 22-year-old rookie Calvin Pickard skated to the crease for his NHL debut. Pickard played the last two seasons for the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL where he went 37-37.

About 7 minutes after Pickard took the ice John Mitchell poked one past Erik Karlsson and fought him off the rest of the way for a beautiful shorthanded goal to give Colorado a 2-0 lead; which helped take some of the stress of rookie goalie Pickard...at least for a little bit.

Moments later Ottawa’s Zack Smith received a pass down low a jammed it past Pickard to make it a one goal game but the Avs would answer. In the final minutes of the first Colorado was on the power play where Ryan O’Reilly and Nathan MacKinnon played a little pitch and catch until they found a wide open Gabriel Landeskog for his first of the season to make it 3-1 Colorado.

That would be it for the Avalanche offense for the rest of the evening despite 25 more shots on goal as Ottawa would go on to score four unanswered goals with three of them coming in third period. Senators’ goalie Craig Anderson stopped 28 of 31 shots while Pickard had a respectable debut stopping 16 of19 shots.

There has been no update on goalie Reto Berra or last year’s Veznia Trophy runner-up Semyon Varlamov who re-aggravated a groin injury during warmups.

The Avalanche are back in action on Saturday night as they continue their tour of eastern Canada against the Montreal Canadiens. Last year years the Avs were 1-1 against the Habs winning the first game 4-1 and losing their second 6-2. Game time is 5 p.m. Central and will be aired on Altitude TV.

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Game Preview: Game Time: 5:30 MT TV: ALT, RDS2, TSN5

The Senators will open their home schedule against the Avalanche.  The next time these two teams will be January 8 in Denver.  The Avalanche were 2-0 in the season series.

The Avalanche are having a difficult time finding the back of the net.  They lost 3-2 in overtime to the Maple Leafs.  The Avs are averaging 1 goal a game, which is lower than last season.  

Matt Duchene scored his first goal of the season against Toronto.  With Duchene scoring, that could be the spark the Avs need to get their offense moving.   

This is game three of a four-game road trip and their third game in four nights.  

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Game Preview: Game Time: 5:30 MT TV: TVA, ALT, TSN4

This is the first of the two games between the Colorado Avalanche and the Toronto Maple Leafs this season. They will play each other again on Nov. 6 at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

The Avalanche finally earned their first win of the season Monday against the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden in a 2-1 victory. Daniel Briere scored his 300th career goal with 0.4 seconds left in regulation, keeping the Avalanche out of overtime.

Toronto scored five goals in the second period of their 6-3 win against the New York Rangers on Sunday at Madison Square Garden. Phil Kessel had a goal and two assists that helped the Maple Leafs earn their first win of the season.

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Avalanche defeat Bruins 2-1 for first win of the season

Colorado Avalanche forward Daniel Briere netted his 300th goal of his career with 0.4 seconds left in regulation, putting the Avs ahead 2-1 to defeat the Boston Bruins this afternoon, resulting in their first win of the season.

The Avalanche (1-2-0) also had a goal from Jamie McGinn and goaltender Reto Berra made 27 saves on Monday.

After today's game, the Bruins have lost three in a row in regulation for the first time since losing four straight March 10-15, 2012.

The Bruins had to deal with their own scoring issues after being shut out by the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Loui Eriksson's power-play goal in the second period tied the game at 1-1.

Bruins goaltender Niklas Svedberg stopped 28 of 30 shots in his first start of the season. So far, Berra has made one relief appearance in the Avalanche's first two games, but today was his first start in net.

Colorado has won seven straight games at the TD Garden and they are 8-0-1 in their past nine games in Boston. The Bruins last defeated Colorado on home ice on March 30, 1998.

The next time Colorado and Boston will meet to conclude their two-game series will be in Denver on Jan. 21, 2015.

The Avalanche play the second game of a four-game road trip Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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What a 300th goal by Danny Briere! Clock beating and game winning.

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@avalanche: Mr. 300 [x]

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Game Preview: Game Time: 11:00 MT TV: TVA, NESN, ALT

The Colorado Avalanche and Boston Bruins each won one game of their series last season, both teams winning 2-0 in the other's arena. The Avalanche have won four times in a row playing at the TD Garden. These two teams will meet once more this season at the Pepsi Center on Jan. 21, 2015.

This will be Jarome Iginla's first trip back to Boston after playing for the Bruins in the 2013-14 season, where he scored 30 goals. The Avalanche are looking for Iginla to bring some of that to their team, seeing as they have yet to score a goal this season. Colorado is on a four-game road trip starting in Boston, and after being shut out by the Minnesota Wild twice in a row at both the season opener and their home opener, the Avalanche are looking for their first win of the season too.

The Bruins lost 4-0 at home against the Washington Capitals on Saturday night and is 1-2-0 after losing to both the Detroit Red Wings and the Capitals. Center David Krejci, who missed the first three games due to an undisclosed injury, may be able to play after being eligible to come off of injured reserve.

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Avalanche fall to Wild 3-0 in home opener

The Colorado Avalanche are now 0-2 for the season, which is the first time since 2008-09, and both losses have come from facing the Minnesota Wild. The Avalanche is the only team in the NHL that hasn't scored a goal yet.

Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves in the Wild's 3-0 win at Pepsi Center tonight for his second consecutive shutout against the Avalanche.

Kuemper, who has four career shutouts, stopped 16 shots Thursday in the Wild's season opening 5-0 win against the Avalanche at Xcel Energy Center. 

The Avalanche went on a 6-on-4 skating advantage with 2:33 remaining in the third period when Wild forward Matt Cooke was penalized for interference shortly after goalie Semyon Varlamov (31 saves) went to the bench for an extra attacker. But Colorado couldn't score and Zach Parise scored an empty net goal with 3.3 seconds left.

Avalanche coach Patrick Roy played with the four line combinations and they played with more energy than Thursday when the Wild enjoyed a 48-16 advantage in shots, but faced the same outcome.

The Wild took a 2-0 lead at 11:50 of the second period on a goal by Jason Zucker, who received a pass from Thomas Vanek and beat Varlamov with a one-timer.

An apparent goal by Charlie Coyle, who scored in the first period, was waved off at 7:18 because Varlamov was knocked down before the puck entered the net. The call was confirmed following a video replay.

The Avalanche will play the Bruins in Boston on Monday at 11 a.m.. Keep an eye out for the preview.

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Game Preview: Game Time: 7:00 MT TV: FS-N, FS-WI, ALT

The Minnesota Wild scored four times in a 13-minute span of the second period in a 5-0 defeat of the Colorado Avalanche in the regular-season opener for each team on Thursday at Xcel Energy Center. Zach Parise had a goal and two assists and Mikael Granlund, Jason Pominville and Ryan Suter each had two points.

Colorado got off to a 6-0-0 start last season and won the Central Division title, but their defense started with a thud on Thursday. The Avalanche couldn't find a way to slow down Minnesota's top line of Parise, Granlund and Pominville, who were on the ice for four of the Wild's five goals. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov was pulled from the game after 40 minutes of play, but he is expected to start in net tonight.

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Wild blank the Avs 5-0 in their first meeting since Playoffs

The Colorado Avalanche allowed the Minnesota Wild to reach a club-record of 48 shots on goal during the second period of their season opener and suffered a 5-0 loss at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. tonight. 

The Avs, who won the Central Division title in 2013-14 before they lost to the Wild in the best of seven games during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, couldn't stop the Wild's top line or create any sort of momentum.

Zach Parise scored one goal and two assists, while Mikael Granlunk and Jason Pominville both ended the night with two points. The Wild scored four goals in the second period, which only happened once for the Wild during last season. Parise ended the night plus-4 with nine shots on goal, while Pominville and Ryan Suter had a goal and an assist each, while Granlund had two assists.

Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper stopped the Avalanche's 16 shots and earned his third NHL shutout without much trouble from the Avs.

Pominville scored the only goal of the first period, putting in a rebound from Granlund's shot at 14:54.

But Minnesota hit their stride less than 13 minutes in the second period.

Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon made it 2-0 at 4:37 with a behind the net tap-in after a pass through the crease by Parise.

Parise scored less than three minutes later, only four seconds into a 4-on-4. Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov stopped the first shot, but Parise grabbed his own rebound and put it in for his first goal of the season.

Nino Niederreiter scored at 13:21, and Suter netted the fifth goal of the night at 16:58 of the second period.

Minnesota outshot Colorado 48-16, and Varlamov was pulled from the game after 40 minutes. He made 33 saves on 38 shots and stopped several other solid chances to keep the game from becoming more one sided.

The Avalanche will face the Wild again on Saturday night at 7 p.m. for their home opener at the Pepsi Center.

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Game Preview: Game Time: 7:00 MT TV: NBCSN

The last time these two teams met was in Game 7 of the Western Conference First Round Series.  The Avalanche fell short due to a Nino Niederreiter OT goal.  

The Avalanche did add some new faces during the offseason.  Jarome Iginla signed a three-year contract.  During practice on Monday, Iginla was skating right wing on the second line with center Matt Duchene and left wing Alex Tanguay.  Iginla and Tanguay aren't strangers.  They spent 5 years as teammates up in Calgary.  With the addition of Iginla, Nathan MacKinnon, who spent the majority of camp as a center, has been shifted to right wing and will play on a line with Ryan O'Reilly at center and Captain Gabriel Landeskog at left wing.  

The Wild have released goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, which puts Darcy Kuemper between the pipes.  

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New season means new infographs!

Welcome to the team, Iggy!

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Patrick Bordeleau will miss the next three months as he recovers from off-season back surgery.

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Giguere Retires After 16 NHL Seasons

The Colorado Avalanche have put together a comprehensive overview of former Avs goaltender, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, in this article.

Giguere, 37, has won the Conn Smythe trophy and the Stanley Cup during the course of his 16-season career. He played his final three season as the backup goalie for the Avalanche.

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Eat. Sleep. Wait for October. 

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Class is in session