Detroit center Joakim Andersson passes the puck to a teammate against Avalanche defenseman Jan Hejda during the first period Thursday night at the Pepsi Center. (Brent Lewis, The Denver Post)
After the Avalanche’s 3-0 loss to Detroit Thursday, Colorado coach Patrick Roy pulled no punches about his team’s power-play ineptitude, and those comments are in the game story.
I didn’t have room for his additional comments in response to my questions, including about whether he wanted Nathan MacKinnon fighting and about the fact that the Pepsi Center continues to look like Joe Louis Arena West on Detroit game nights here.
I prefaced the question about MacKinnon, who fought with Jonathan Ericsson only 44 seconds into the game, with the usual concessions about it’s an emotional sport and lines need to be drawn and all that, but…
Did he want MacKinnon fighting?
“I think it was a head shot in the corner and I think that’s what started everything,” Roy said. “Obviously, I’m not in favor of Nathan fighting, but I guess he had his reasons. I’m certainly not going to encourage any players to fight, but at the same time, sometimes those things happen in a game.
“Was that a smart thing to do? I don’t think so. I mean, it’s an emotional game, I think you want to set the tone. I’ll respect what he did.”
On the red-drenched crowd, Roy remarked: “I truly believe it’s our job, the players and the coaching staff, to excite our fans and having then come. If we continue to do what we’re doing, I think the fans will be all Avalanche fans. It’s a matter of time. I truly believe in that.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or twitter.com/TFrei
