The Mile-High City has not been a kind place to the Winnipeg Jets in recent memory. Over their last nine visits to Denver, Winnipeg has won just once and produced a grand total of five of 18 eligible points.
So as the Jets prepare for game two of their three-game road trip tonight in a meeting against the Colorado Avalanche, the prospects of success appear to be as thin as the rarified air in the Rocky Mountain region.
Now, it’s important to understand that in today’s NHL, the competitive balance is pretty level, meaning it only takes one or two items in a game to sway it in your favour, something the Jets will be eager to try this evening after suffering their first loss of the season two nights ago in Dallas.
But of course, when you’re playing the defending Stanley Cup champions, in their building, and sitting on the wrong side of head-to-head history of late, the obstacles to accomplishing that seem as wide as a mountain crevasse.
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And while we’re on the subject of the past, it’s probably meaningful to understand that the Avalanche, for all their success last season, didn’t start out the first month of the season in prime position, posting a 4-4 record in October. The Jets, meanwhile, were 4-2-2. And we all know how the season finished for both.
So while a trip to Colorado appears to be a possible exercise in futility with a predictable outcome for the Jets tonight, we should be reminded we are only two games into a new season, the operative word here being ‘new’.
Yes, the Mile-High City has not been a welcoming place to the group from friendly Manitoba, but it wouldn’t take much to change the course of Winnipeg’s hockey history here in Denver. After all, it’s not like they have to move mountains to get there.
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