The Colorado Avalanche are off to a red hot start to the season, a start that most didn’t see coming. Rookie Ryan O’Reilly, drafted 33rd overall in the draft this summer, scored his first NHL goal to give the Avs the win over the Montreal Canadiens, spoiling the Habs home opener before a crowd of 21, 273 at the Bell Center in Montreal. This brought their record to an impressive 5-1-1 with three consecutive wins.
The Avalanche have a good core of young talent including rookies Ryan O’Reilly and Matt Duchene as well as young star Paul Stastney. The veteran’s like Darcy Tucker and captain Adam Foote are providing solid leadership and goaltender Craig Anderson seems to have found his comfort zone in Colorado.
The question is weather they can sustain this caliber of play for the long term, and the laws of averages are certainly against them, but after a dismal season last year new coach Joe Sacco has this team believing in themselves and each other. This will be an interesting story to watch as it develops.