The luxury of having two recent championship teams in the City of Denver is one that makes cheering for a team like the Broncos an easier pill to swallow.
Over the weekend the Colorado Avalanche hosted the Phoenix Coyotes at Ball Arena on Saturday night. The Avs had previously defeated the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night 6-4 in Denver where Nathan Mackinnon and Mikko Rantanen accounted for all of Colorado’s 6 points with Mackinnon chalking up 5 points in that game.
On Saturday night the Avs added another check to the win column when they defeated the Arizona Coyotes. The Avs dominated in the first two periods scoring all four of their goals before Arizona finally got on the board with a single goal in the third.
The Avs will be in Arizona to face the Coyotes again this week before heading to St. Louis to face the Blues on Friday (December 29th at 6 p.m.). Colorado returns to Denver this weekend to host the Sharks on New Years Eve (Sunday, December 31) at 6 p.m.
The Denver Nuggets have won five of their last six games; their most recent win came against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas day. Stephen ‘Steph’ Curry and Warriors came to Denver after also winning five of their last six hoping to extend their lead after three straight wins at home to the Portland Trailblazers, the Washington Wizards and the Boston Celtics.
Despite not having one of their top defensive players Draymond Green who was suspended indefinitely after slapping Jusuf Nurkic two weeks ago, the Warriors kept it close and actually led heading into the half.
The Nuggets out-scored the Warriors in both the third and fourth quarters beating the Warriors 120-114 on Christmas Day, giving the fans in Denver a cheerful present.
The only teams to not offer cheer to the fans for the holidays were the Denver Broncos. On Sunday the Broncos hosted the 3-11 New England Patriots a team they were expected to beat on their path to the postseason.
Unfortunately for Denver fans the Patriots spoiled Denver’s hopes while fans got to see first hand, in real time their chances of making it to the playoffs slowly diminish with each passing quarter. Both teams had trouble getting any progress from their offenses with Denver leading 7-3 at the half. By the third the Patriots broke the game wide open scoring 20 unanswered points leading Denver 23-7.
Denver quarterback Russell Wilson lead Denver to two touchdowns with two successful two-point-conversions; however, poor clock management and play calling at the end of regulation put the Patriots in field position for the game winning field goal. Denver lost 26-23, dampening any shot at the playoffs.
The Broncos are now behind the Oakland Raiders who defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Arrowhead on Monday night. The Broncos are at home to host the Chargers this weekend before heading to Las Vegas to play the Raiders in their final game of the season.
