The Fifth Liners

Last night after suffering a 6-0 to the New York Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum, it appears that the Colorado Avalanche 's season is already turning into the thing of nightmares. There were signs of life last season as Patrick Roy 's Jack Adams winning debut season propelled them to new heights not seen since the days of Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Roy himself keeping net. Currently the Avalanche lies stranded in 13th place in the Western Conference with a record of 3–5–5 and the problem seems to be that no one really understands what is causing this slide? Calder Trophy Winner Nathan MacKinnon 's slow sophomore season has been making headlines for the wrong reasons but currently he is still joint top offensively with Matt Duchene on 9 points. But Jarome Iginla has so far received the most flack as his age has appeared to have crept up with him. 2 goals and 8 points are not reflecting the $16 million that Colorado were willing to invest in the 37 year old! The p...

This week's question is about the Colorado Avalanche's young superstar: "Statistically Nathan MacKinnon is having a better rookie season that Wayne Gretzky, is this kid the future of Colorado hockey? Or is this just beginners luck?" When the Avs snapped up MacKinnon at the 2013 Draft, they knew they had something special. MacKinnon, tore the junior leagues apart with his incisive and unselfish play. He may only be 18, but his hockey brain is fully developed. He knows when to shoot and when to pass. MacKinnon takes chances, but will happily provide assists when a colleague has a better chance. It's no surprise he was the first overall draft pick. So far, MacKinnon has 58 points from 75 games (0.77 per game). If this stays the same and he plays all 82 regular season games, then he'll finish on 63 points. This is a pretty good total for a rookie season, although it doesn't quite match up to Sidney Crosby (102) and Alexander Ovechkin (106). Still, ...

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 ...