Morning Flurries: a bad loss for the Avs and potentially a worse one for Olympic hockey

The Colorado Avalanche hoped that, with just one game left on captain Gabriel Landeskog’s suspension, they’d be able to turn things around in his absence against the league’s worst roster.

The Buffalo Sabres had been on a four-game losing streak, and were 1-8-1 in their last 10, when they arrived in Colorado for Tuesday night’s game. It was the perfect opportunity for the Avalanche to turn around their own recent slump.

Instead, they found themselves on the wrong end of the final score, dropping a 4-2 decision in regulation to fall to a 12-12-2 record on the season.

The team is still on a perfect .500 points percentage, but things aren’t looking great over the last few games. [Mile High Hockey]

In some more optimistic reading, here’s a look at who the Avs could be looking to draft this summer - whether they’re a playoff team or a lottery option, here’s the early 2018 draft rankings. [MHH]

Now, for some huge news that really affects us all:

For more details on the IOC’s decision to ban Russia from the upcoming Winter Olympics - and what it means for hockey - take a look here. [TSN]

Finally, the save of the night - because man, this is something, all right: