The Colorado Avalanche stumbled into Monday knowing that they wouldn’t have Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene in their lineup. Worse yet, they had a tough team on the docket in the Nashville Predators.
Rather than rolling over and dying, the Avalanche showed fight.
Most importantly, they won the game, holding on for a 4-3 win even after the Predators nearly fought back (Colorado was once up 3-0).
They showed fight in a more literal way, too, as Jarome Iginla showed that he isn’t too old to drop the gloves:
The Avalanche now trail the Wild by three points for the West’s second wild card spot. Meanwhile, the Predators need to wait to clinch a playoff spot and also lose a chance to gain ground on the Chicago Blackhawks for the Central Division’s third spot.
In other words, the Predators had plenty of reason to fight, but the Avalanche landed the knockout blow this time around.
They can’t lick their wounds yet, however, as they face the also-very-hot Blues on Tuesday.