Avalanche News
Inside the Locker Room: Ross Colton on Luck of Surprise Goal

The Colorado Avalanche’s recent three-game road trip was a mixed bag against three Central Division teams. They lost to the last team in the league, beat an injury-riddled adversary and got shut out by their far-north rivals.
The team underestimated the Chicago Blackhawks and faced exceptional goaltending from Petr Mrazek in the loss.
“We kind of laid an egg there in Chicago. We did some good things, but I think we were … sometimes we have lapses there where we give other teams like that, that are lower in the standings, a chance to be in the game when we could have put them away in the first period,” Ross Colton said. “We let them hang around. They got a lot of skill, a lot of high-end players that they took advantage of it.”
Jared Bednar Denies Gabriel Landeskog’s Knee Swelling Reports
Juuso Parssinen was the only Avalanche player to earn a point in Chicago with a lone, unassisted goal. Five players had multi-point games in Minnesota and no one got on the board in Winnipeg. In the first and third games, the team struggled to get on the scoresheet, which head coach Jared Bednar said they are working on in the upcoming five-game homestand.
“It’s more about what we have to get back to doing that we didn’t do on the road trip,” Bednar said.
“It felt like it was really hard for us in Chicago and Winnipeg to create offense. I think we defended hard, we played hard, competed hard on the defensive side. We were pretty in tune with the detail of our game, but just felt like on that road trip, especially, it was a struggle for us to get in and going on the offensive side of it.”
Colton’s Reaction Goes Viral
Colton scored the game-winner in Minnesota on a turnover right in front of the net, which was completely unexpected. His reaction made its way around the hockey world’s social media channels — including mine.
This is why he's one of my favorites 🤣 #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/EIBOA63gLE
— Colleen Flynn (@CHNFlynn) January 10, 2025
“I was just really, really surprised. I mean, we were laughing about it afterwards. I had a bad play like that last year where I turned it over and a guy on Dallas scored. So I guess it comes full circle. I guess the hockey gods reward me there,” Colton said. “But again, just thought it was kind of funny. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I couldn’t believe the puck was on my stick. I just tried to throw it on net and luckily it went in.”
The 28-year-old New Jersey native joked that he should have bought a lottery ticket. He didn’t so we’ll never know how strong his luck was with that goal.
5-Game Homestand, Injury Updates
The Avs are looking to regroup and refocus in front of their home crowd. The road trip results underscore the importance of consistency and the team’s ability to bounce back quickly — both key factors as the season progresses.
The team is still missing several players due to injury. Bednar said Sam Girard is not ready to get back in the lineup and that he is day-to-day. Valeri Nichushkin’s return timeline has been extended. Bednar said he tried to work through his lower-body injury but backed off when it didn’t feel right. Miles Wood and Oliver Kylington are back on the ice in non-contact jerseys, showing some progress for both of their injury recoveries.
The Avs have still won games missing key players with a few contributing factors to their success. But having a nearly healthy lineup is something they look forward to.
“We’ve done a great job. We have a next-guy-up mentality. A lot of these guys from the Eagles have come up, played really well for us. And I’ve spoken about this before, but the change of goaltenders has been, nothing against Georgie (Alexandar Georgiev) and Jus (Justus Annunen), but these guys have just sparked us a lot and sparked our confidence,” Colton said. “They’ve been great for us in the room and on the ice.
“Hopefully we get him (Nichushkin) back soon. Hopefully we get my boy, Woody (Wood) back, and then from what I’m hearing, Landy’s (Gabriel Landeskog) trending in the right direction. So it’s just a lot of great morale here in the locker room and we’re looking forward to this next stretch.”