Roy and Mackinnon Start With a Bang

Patrick Roy's enjoyed the perfect start as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche last night as they routed the Anaheim Ducks 6-1 at the Pepsi Centre! Given a rapturous standing ovation before the game start, Roy repaid his fans faith with a stunning performance. But there was another debut that also caught the headlines as number one overall draft pick Nathan Mackinnon chipped in with two assists to help his team to a big win.

Ryan O’Reilly got the party started in the first period when he seized on a defensive mistake to make the score one to nothing. The second period however was when the Avs really caught their stride as Stevie Downie and John Mitchell pushed their advantage to 3-0 mid way through the period. But with 17 minutes gone, Mackinnon was finally given his chance to shine as his pass set up Jamie McGinn for the teams fourth!

The pair then combined again early in the second to incredibly push Colorado 5-0 ahead before Matt Duchene capped off an impressive display with a wrist shot off a powerplay! Jakob Silverberg did salvage some pride for Anaheim with a goal which with only 7 seconds left- but this moment led to a heated exchange between Roy and Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau because moments before Mackinnon had been hit by Ben Lovejoy but no penalty was given!

Sergei Varlamov was largely to thank for this fine win as his 35 saves helped keep Anaheim at bay through. I know one game doesn’t mean much at this stage but here I have to ask- where was Colorado and who are these fine players who took their place? Good luck this season Patrick but remember keep your temper in check.