Morning Flurries: Avalanche getting to full strength and hitting their stride

The Avalanche yesterday got a well-deserved rest day after obliterating the Blues 8-0 on Friday night. All of us were waiting to see how the Avs would recover after their opening night defeat, and boy did they respond with vengeance. That is the Avalanche we all know and love.

There were, however, a couple of members of the Avs to hit the ice on Saturday, both of whom were feeling their legs after COVID protocols. Erik Johnson and Bowen Byram took to the ice on Saturday and has caused the squad to be changed up a little bit before the Avs take a trip to Southern California to face the Los Angeles Kings.

It looks as if The Condor is ready to come back into the squad after recovering from COVID-19 which kept him sidelined through camp and the first two games of the season. It looks like he will slot into the starting lineup come Tuesday night. Plus, the highly-anticipated debut of Bowen Byram looks closer than ever, as he comes from the Colorado Eagles to join the taxi squad. He has completed his required quarantine period after the conclusion of the WJC’s and can now fill in to the D-line for now if any injuries pop up, but he will have some competition on getting into the squad by another D-man who is getting pushed to the taxi-squad.

After again playing the first two games of the season, Conor Timmins again falls out of the squad to join the taxi squad and compete with Bowen Byram for top back-up defensemen, while members of the taxi squad will move back to Loveland to prepare for the upcoming AHL season in February for the Eagles.

Photo by Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Around the league, there was still plenty of hockey being played. With a slate of ten games, three of them were from the Honda West Division, including the Avs next opponent, the Kings, taking on the Wild in LA. After their first bout ended in an OT thriller, we got another one last night, with the Wild winning once again after coming back and with Kirill Kaprizov playing part in the winner.

The Kings fall to 0-0-2 before facing the Avs on Tuesday, and will be hungry looking for their first win of the season, so the Avs have to be ready for that.

Also, we saw the Sharks and Coyotes face off in a high-scoring affair which saw the Yotes take it over the Sharks 5-3, including a solid performance for Antii Raanta and Phil Kessel looking like his old self with 2 goals and an assist on the afternoon in front of a small crowd, which is nice to see during these times of usually empty arenas:

Finally, to wrap up the night, the Golden Knights hosted the Ducks in another game that went into OT. The Knights first tied the game with just over 1:20 left on the clock in the third. The Golden Knights ended up taking it with a Max Pacioretty winner just seven seconds into the extra frame, looking extra golden with that performance and bright gold jerseys.

Finally, we saw Tim Stützle’s first career NHL goal after his superb performance at the WJC’s for the Senators in their 3-2 loss to the Maple Leafs, so a congrats to him and it’ll be the first of many for his career.

Happy Sunday Avs fans! Stay safe and have a good rest of the weekend!