Anaheim Takes A Beating From Colorado As Tempers Flair
We all know that Patrick Roy has a reputation, and not the kind everyone around the league necessarily looks up to either. His fire and passion for the game has never gone unnoticed, whether it be during his 19 year career as a goalie, or during his short career as a head coach. Roy showed us all right away tonight just what kind of fire he’s bringing to the table as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche.
The Avalanche had a rather explosive home debut Wednesday night, routing the Anaheim Ducks 6-1. Nathan MacKinnon, who the Avalanche drafted first overall this summer contributed with two assists in his NHL debut, and was the topic of quite the argument between benches, when Patrick Roy was seemingly about to jump the glass and go after opposing coach Bruce Boudreau.
Semyon Varlamov played outstanding making 35 saves on 36 shots, and the offense was electric for the Avalanche. Alex Tanguay, who the Aves traded for in the offseason, notched three assists, Steve Downie and Ryan O’Reilly both contributed with a goal and an assist, and Jamie McGinn scored a pair of goals in the Aves victory.
Things were pretty heated, as you might have guessed. The Ducks aren’t a team that takes losing lightly, and they weren’t at all happy near the end of the third period, being down 6-0 to a team no one really expected much from. The Aves came out on fire, and the Ducks were completely flightless.
The Ducks have a history of letting their tempers get the best of them, and it proved to be a disadvantage to the team once again on Wednesday. A dirty hit from Ben Lovejoy on rookie Nathan MacKinnon that to me seemed to be quite the nasty knee to knee, set the tempers overboard. Lovejoy and MacKinnon had a little scrap earlier in the game during the second period that sent them both to the box for 2 minutes. This however, was a bit different than a scrap after an innocent play.
Roy found it hard to contain himself after the hit, as he always does, and decided to let Boudreau know exactly how it made him feel. Roy proceeded to smack the glass between the benches, and nearly knocked it over onto Boudreau as the two screamed back and forth over the median. Roy was given a game misconduct for the temper tantrum (that it mattered, the clock was winding down to the end of the game anyway).
The Ducks finally got themselves on the board with only 7 seconds remaining in the game when Jakob Silfverberg scored his first of the season. The Avalanche emerged victorious, and stand atop of the Western Conference for the time being.
On a final note, I just want to say, that if Ryan Getzlaf would spend more time playing hockey, and less time jawing at and pushing opposing players, fans of teams other than the Ducks may actually enjoy him. And as far as Patrick Roy goes, I love the enthusiasm he brings, it makes a great article, but this is a bit ridiculous. You’re winning the hockey game by five goals. Get your guys back on the ice, drop the puck and finish the game. It was a dirty hit, but unfortunately that’s hockey, at the end of the day, MacKinnon was okay, and you got the win, let the Ducks go home and try and sleep after the beating they just received from your team, and let that be enough.