This is exactly the sort of early-season meeting that can tell you plenty about a team without pretending to settle anything. The Colorado Avalanche are back in Denver after a 3-2 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars, and now the Pittsburgh Penguins arrive for the first of two regular-season matchups with the temperature already raised by results, coaching change and a little bit of lineup uncertainty.
Colorado’s job is obvious enough: reset quickly, make sure one frustrating night does not become a habit, and show that the loss to Dallas was a bump rather than a warning sign. The Penguins, meanwhile, come in with a season that has already swung from a 7-0 opening win over the Philadelphia Flyers to a 5-3 defeat to the Chicago Blackhawks. In other words, both teams have already shown the kind of volatility that makes November-ish hockey so difficult to read and so easy to overreact to.
McLean has no time for a soft landing
There is also the matter of the bench. After Dave Hakstol was named the head coach of the ASU Sun Devils hockey team, Colorado named Brett McLean the assistant head coach in his place. That is not a situation anyone would choose as a calming backdrop, but it is the one the Avalanche have to manage while trying to keep the hockey itself front and center.
That is why this game matters beyond the usual two points. A team can survive one bad result; it becomes a more uncomfortable story when the bad result comes bundled with change, questions and the sense that the lineup is not yet fully settled. Logan O’Connor took part in morning skate but remained ineligible to play for at least three more games, which only adds to the sense that Colorado is still waiting to get itself fully in order.
Penguins bring danger, but not certainty
The Penguins are not walking into Ball Arena as a team with all the answers either. They opened with that emphatic 7-0 win over the Flyers, which is the kind of statement result that can briefly make everyone feel better than they probably should. Since then, though, the stumble against Chicago has served as a reminder that fast starts are nice, but they do not buy much if the next step is a backward one.
So this is the real test in miniature: one team trying to shake off a shootout loss and a coaching shuffle, the other trying to prove it has more consistency than its results suggest. Penguins vs Avalanche has plenty of name value, but it also has practical value. Colorado needs a response. Pittsburgh needs proof. And in a league where rhythm disappears quickly, the side that handles the awkward bits better will leave Denver feeling a lot better about itself.
