Even though I recently crossed seeing an NHL playoff game off my bucket list, a small part of me was sad that I didn't see the Colorado Avalanche compete for Lord Stanley's Cup. I have been a fan since the Quebec Nordiques relocated to Denver in 1995 and I have so many memories of watching them in the postseason with my dad. When both the Avalanche and the Golden Knights advanced to the second round, I realized that they might possibly play each other in the Western Conference Final and I got the crazy idea that I could see a game in Las Vegas (it is faster and easier to drive there than to Denver). I actually started looking at tickets immediately after Vegas eliminated Anaheim and, when I found one for Game 3 that was only slightly more than the dollar limit I set for myself, I bought it in a fit of madness! The Avalanche were down 0-2 in the series so this game was huge for them and I was both excited and anxious. I was also a little bit intimidated to go inside T-Mobile Arena wearing the opposing team's jersey but the Vegas fans I interacted with were very friendly (the fans at the Air Canada Centre, as it was called then, were more hostile when I saw the Avs play the Leafs in Toronto) and there were a lot of other Avalanche fans at the game, especially in my section. The first period was so much fun because the Avs came out really fired up (like the team I watched all season rather than the team I watched in the first two games of this series) and, when Gabriel Landeskog, Nazem Kadri, and Jack Drury scored really pretty goals, all of the Colorado fans around me went crazy and we high-fived each other! I started feeling really optimistic about their chances to win this game because Vegas couldn't seem to get anything going and their one goal was waved off. However, all of the momentum shifted from Colorado to Vegas in the second period. Mark Stone scored a power play goal for the Knights 19 seconds in and the Avalanche completely imploded from that moment on. William Karlsson and Keegan Kolesar scored to even it up 3-3 to end the disastrous second period. During the second intermission I tried to resign myself to the fact that the Avalanche were going to lose the game because Nathan MacKinnon injured his knee attempting to block a shot in the last few minutes of the period but I still had a sliver of hope because I have seen them rally many times. That hope was dashed when Tomas Hertl scored the go-ahead goal at 8:21 and Brett Howden scored an empty-netter in the last minute of the game. I was so disheartened by the fact that the Avs blew a 3 goal lead to lose 5-3 when they have been the team to beat since the start of the playoffs. I have never seen a team melt down so spectacularly! It is highly unlikely that the Avs can come back from an 0-3 deficit to win the series so my only hope is that one of the teams in the east can take down the Golden Knights (they have now become my most hated team). Even though this game was disappointing (the drive home was a long one), I am still really glad that I took this road trip because it is my goal to be more spontaneous this year.
Note: I have now seen two Stanley Cup playoff games and, in both of them, my team was defeated by Vegas. Grrr!
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