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Evan’s NHL Daily: Former Avalanche Forward Hits 600, Devils Help

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That 2022 Stanley Cup team for the Colorado Avalanche will always hold a special place in the hearts of fans, so anytime someone from that team hits a milestone in the NHL, it should be celebrated. It’s taken a little longer than he would have hoped to get there, but Andre Burakovsky hit a milestone in games played on Thursday.

Around the NHL, the Avalanche got some help from the New Jersey Devils in the race for the Central Division title. There’s a lot of questions around Alexandar Georgiev at the moment, but maybe Jake Oettinger should be taking some more heat.

Off the ice, we’re still trying to determine when Nikolai Kovalenko will arrive, but it doesn’t appear the wait will be much longer.

All that and more in this Friday edition of Evan’s Daily.

Colorado Hockey Now

A line led by a trio of new guys, including Casey Mittelstadt, were pretty dominant in Colorado’s win over the Canucks on Thursday night.

When Will Kovalenko Arrive?

The Avalanche haven’t given an update on when Kovalenko will arrive in the NHL, but social media gave us some hints on Thursday, as the 24 year old posted a few goodbye messages from his teammates and yes, his barber.

For those that care, this is what the message from the barber translated to: “Every month for a year and a half
@kovalenko.n_51 trusted me with his image 2 Now he’s leaving to play in the NHL for Colorado Most importantly, he’s not injured and I’m always waiting for @topgun_nn.” I doubt it’s a perfect translation, but better than nothing. Barbers know everything about everyone because all they do is talk to people, but not exactly how we expected to get more information in this situation.

His former linemate in Torpedo posted this…

So yes, it appears his arrival to Denver is imminent. It’s doubtful he joins the road trip, but could just be meeting the team when they get back. It also appears as though he’s completely fine after the hit he took late in his last KHL game, but we won’t know for sure until he hits the ice.

With his arrival imminent, look for a film room on his game in the next day or two.

Burakovsky Hits 600

Andre Burakovsky scored a lot of goals in his short time with the Avalanche, but none were bigger than his OT winner in Game One of the Stanley Cup Final. On Thursday, he hit 600 games played in the NHL. He’s struggled with injuries in Seattle and is having the worst season of his career, but always nice to see some members of that team hit milestones. Congratulations to him.

If you’d like to relive the Final heroics, here you go…

Around The League

Everyone wants to talk about the struggles of Alexandar Georgiev, but you see very little talk of Jake Oettinger and his issues this season. On Thursday night, he was pulled after giving up four goals on nine shots, as the New Jersey Devils beat the Stars 6-2, helping out Colorado. His numbers this season aren’t pretty, especially of late.

With the loss, the Stars officially fall behind the Avalanche, as they’ve now played more games. Colorado owns all the tiebreakers right now.

Out East, Evgeny Kuzenetsov scored his first goal in the NHL for a team other than the Washington Capitals, and he doesn’t seem to be taking anything for granted right now.

National Hockey Now

No one in the East seems to want to take those final playoff spots, including the Philadelphia Flyers.

Seven straight losses for the Red Wings. Fighting each other didn’t end up sparking them.

Suddenly, the Buffalo Sabres have life in the race for a playoff spot, and a big reason why is their goaltender, Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen.

It’s obviously not happening this year, but the Devils intend to investigate a Juuse Saros trade more this summer.

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