They don’t call them growing pains because they feel good. When the Avalanche last won a playoff series, Jose Theodore was backstopping them past the Minnesota Wild, who was were still in just their seventh season of existence. Nobody really knew at the time Colorado was on the verge of collapsing into irrelevance in the NHL for the next decade.…...

In the latest installment of the Avalanche Weekly Breakdown, presented by Piper Electric, Adrian Dater and Allie Monroy talk about the Avs’ wild and woolly two games at the Pepsi Center, and look ahead to Game 5 in Calgary and a potential close-out game. Do the Avs have what it takes to close the deal? Adrian and Allie discuss. https://youtu.be/3XMfYBKTA3c

From pumpkin to prince. A week ago, Mikko Rantanen was skating around on his own wearing an orange non-contact jersey and the world wondering whether or not he’d be healthy for the playoffs. The Avalanche had managed to clinch their postseason berth with Rantanen on the shelf after he suffered an undisclosed injury against the Dallas Stars on March 21.…...

Well, did everyone have a good time this week at the Pepsi Center? How are those vocal cords right now? The grades: Mikko Rantanen (A) – The hero of this one. His great tip with 2:50 left tied it up, and you saw what he did in OT with that lethal one-timer of his. Like a lot of Avs, he…

Fresh off the 48-point season the organization will never be able to forget, they watched in horror as their draft lottery luck was about as it bad as it could be, dropping from the well-earned first pick all the way to four. In the 2017 NHL Draft, that tumble seemed significant at the time. The class was considered weaker than…...

Allie Monroy and AJ Haefele discuss what the Colorado Avalanche need to improve on after losing Game 1 to the Calgary Flames, if Cale Makar will make an appearance during the playoffs and more! https://youtu.be/LBWDtRP1bFU

When in doubt on what can ail a hockey team offensively, no one better to quote than the Great One.  “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” Wayne Gretzky supposedly once said. Someone should plaster that quote all over the walls of the Avalanche dressing room before Game 2 against the Calgary Flames Saturday night. A gettable game,…...

For all the nitpicking done on how the Avalanche qualified for the playoffs, not much was really made along the way how Colorado lost two of their top three forwards to injury along the way. Even when they got Gabe Landeskog back, Mikko Rantanen went down and missed the final couple of weeks due to an undisclosed injury. Well, now…...

March 25, 2009. Avalanche owner Stan Kroenke watched as his team lost 7-2 to the Anaheim Ducks at home, officially eliminating them from playoff contention. It was only the Avs’ second elimination since their move to Denver, but the reality of the situation was beginning to set in. The club ranked dead last in goals scored, fifth worst in goals…...

Well, that sucked. Instead of re-hashing the events of last night, let’s just get to it. There will be no Hughes or Kakko in Colorado. Harsh, universe. 1. New Jersey Devils – Jack Hughes, C, USNTDP (USHL) The Devils have a heavy USA Hockey presence and they’re going to be all about adding to their center depth with Hughes. Nico…...

It took 514 days but Avalanche fans woke up last week finally not giving a damn about the Ottawa Senators. A lot has happened in that time. Ottawa went from an expected playoff team to a league doormat and the Avalanche flipped the script on a 48-point season to consecutive playoff seasons. When Matt Duchene was finally (mercifully?) traded in…...

Now that one of the strangest regular seasons in recent Avalanche history is over, we’re all looking ahead to the future. What comes next for this organization is, simply put, one of the most exciting weeks in its history. Tomorrow morning the Avalanche return to the ice in their first postseason practice as they begin to prepare for the Western…

Uncut audio from Colorado’s huge 3-2 overtime win against the Winnipeg Jets. The Avalanche clinched a playoff berth by getting to overtime and then won the second point simply because they could. Below is audio from a couple of the players after the game. First up is Erik Johnson, the longest tenured Av right now and a player who missed…...

I’ve been blessed to have a unique look at the Colorado Avalanche the last three years. It seemed like a curse at first because I was the only media member to cover the 48-point Avalanche season from training camp through 82 regular season games. I remember those postgame locker rooms, especially in the second half of the season. This was…...

In the latest “Avalanche Weekly Breakdown”, presented by Piper Electric, Adrian Dater and Allie Monroy discuss the amazing fact that the Avs have almost clinched a playoff spot. Also up for discussion: Why Semyon Varlamov might have played his last game as an Av, and: who would the Avs most likely play in the first round? https://youtu.be/iQrrikTleX4

Facing a must-win game on home ice against a floundering opponent that had just been eliminated from playoff contention 24 hours earlier, it was a familiar face who manned the net when the Avalanche took the ice tonight. Instead of starting Philipp Grubauer, arguably the hottest goaltender in the NHL over the last two weeks and the man responsible for…...

Superstars are made in all kinds of different ways. Connor McDavid fights the uphill battle to prove he’s actually human (he swears he is which is exactly what a hockey cyborg would say). P.K. Subban had so much personality his original team felt compelled to move on from him. If a superstar plays for the Florida Panthers, is he even…...

For a team hounded by questions of secondary scoring all season, the Avalanche lost Gabe Landeskog in the final minutes of a game they were shutout in. They responded to the 4-0 loss in Dallas by defying the playoff odds and making a run for the postseason even as their captain sat on the sideline watching. That time appears have…...

In the latest installment of “Avalanche Storytime”, presented by the best hockey bar in town, Bender’s Bar and Grill, Adrian Dater takes a look back to the 1996 Western Conference semifinals against the Chicago Blackhawks, and some of the crazy maladies that afflicted the Blackhawks and helped the Avs on their march to the Stanley Cup. The most famous of…