Dater Column: Byram back, but will Kadri, Landeskog returns be too uncomfortably close to playoffs?

Man, I loved that win tonight by the Colorado Avalanche. Minus a few really good regular players, the Avs went into Pittsburgh and just outworked the Penguins in a solid 6-4 win. Don’t be alarmed by a couple late goals by the Pens that made the game seem closer than it was.

After a first period in which the Avs were outshot 20-11 and tied 1-1, they just came out and outworked the Penguins in their building, making for a quiet exit for the black-and-gold-dressed partisans.

I just was really taken by how easy the Avs made it look in the final two periods of a game in which the Penguins really wanted to show they could beat the league’s top team, after battling them so close on Saturday in Denver.

The Avs did get outplayed much of the first period, but, wow, they just really took it to the Pens in the second period.

And that was without Landy, Big Val, Kadri and Girard. Bo Byram returned, though, and looked great. As I wrote the other day, sometimes it’s easier for a top talent to play in the NHL instead of the AHL, where others might be looking to make a physical statement against the hotshot player just down in the minors, slumming for a while until they go back to the big-time.