The Colorado Avalanche is fourth in the Western Conference behind the Dallas Stars, the Winnipeg Jets, and the Minnesota Wild. At the start of the season Colorado’s goalies were allowing too many goals, being outscored 25 – 13 in just the first four games of the season. Although they’ve gained some footing since, Colorado’s biggest issue still remained between the pipes.
On Monday, Colorado made a move in an effort to slow the bleeding by trading Alexander Gerogiev to the San Jose Sharks for 28-year old goalie Mackenzie Blackwood along with winger Givani Smith. The trade also includes a 2025 conditional fifth-round pick and a 2026 second round pick.
The addition of Blackwood is expected to help improve Colorado’s goalie woes and help the Avs compete for a top spot in the Western Conference.
This week the Avs are in Pittsburgh (results of this game not available at the time of this writing) to face the Penguins before returning home to host the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday at Ball Arena at 7 p.m. Colorado will also host the Nashville Predators this Saturday at 7 p.m.
In other sports the Denver Nuggets have also been dealing with issues since the start of their season with Nikola Jokic being the only player to be consistent with his name at the top of the leader board for league MVP once again. Shooting guard Jamal Murray has been a shell of himself, not living up to his contract thus far, this season.
On Sunday the Nuggets beat the Atlanta Hawks after Jokic led the Nuggets to a 141-111 victory where the three-time MVP put up video game numbers with 48 points, 8 assists and 14 rebounds. The previous night when Denver lost to the Washington Wizards, Nikola put up 56 points, 8 assists, and 16 rebounds. Over a span of two games the leagues leading MVP candidate put up 104 points, 16 assists, and 30 rebounds.
This week the Nuggets get some rest before playing host to the L.A. Clippers on Friday at 7 p.m. The Nuggets will travel to Sacramento on Monday to kick off a three-game road trip that begins when they face the Kings at 8 p.m. on Monday night. Denver then heads to Portland next Thursday before flying to New Orleans to face the Pelicans next Sunday before Christmas.
The Denver Broncos enjoyed their bye week this week after defeating the Cleveland Browns last Monday night. Denver didn’t get much help over the weekend from in-the-hunt teams playing to keep their post-season playoffs alive. The Dolphins beat the Jets in overtime and the Cowboys lost to the Bengals last night on Monday Night two games that would have helped the Broncos secure a spot in the post-season. The only help Denver got over the weekend came from the Chiefs when they beat the L.A. Chargers 19-17 at Arrowhead.
