Another Heimlich maneuver stops a potential Avs choke; Avs now 5-0-0 after hanging on against Caps

WASHINGTON – Sorry, but that headline was just a little too easy. Promise I won’t go to that easy well of aquiferous metaphor again.

The Colorado Avalanche were going to have a one-time four-goal lead cut to one with two minutes, six seconds remaining in Monday’s weirdly-scheduled game with the Washington Capitals. Plenty of time for the Avs to give up one more goal and see the game come down to another nailbiter.

But a 5-4 game stayed 5-3, thanks to another successful coaching challenge by the Avs, led by video coach Brett Heimlich (above). Actually, Matt Nieto is the one who first piped up on the bench that Washington’s T.J. Oshie was offside leading to a Caps goal that would have made it a 5-4 game. But after Avs coach Jared Bednar and his assistants – which includes Heimlich from the back room looking at every blue-line opposing entry like a Hubble telescope – saw the play again on their iPads, the challenge went up.