wasn’t the only Avalanche skater who was going against his longtime former team Saturday at the Pepsi Center.
Colorado winger Alex Tanguay played five seasons with Calgary in two stints, both between his two stays with the Avalanche.
“Five fun years there,” Tanguay said. “I enjoyed Calgary. It’s a great hockey city, great fans. It’s always a little different to play against a former team, that’s for sure, but we have nothing but good memories out of Calgary.”
Facing top lines. With Erik Johnson out, coach Patrick Roy usually has been using the Brad Stuart-Nick Holden pairing against the opposition’s top lines. The Avalanche coach went on an offensive in the past few days, especially praising Stuart. Stuart, 35, and Holden, 27, signed contract extensions in the offseason. Stuart is under contract for two more seasons, Holden for three.
“We’ve played a lot together this year, and I think we’re at a point where we understand each other’s games without having to necessarily talk about it all the time,” Stuart said. “The only difference lately is that we’ve been playing against the other team’s top line, but I’m still killing penalties and doing a lot of the same things. It’s just playing against different players a little more consistently.
“I’m at a point where I know my game, I know what I bring to the table and what I don’t bring to the table, and I just try and keep it simple and consistent and bring the same things every night.”
Days off. The Avalanche doesn’t play again until Thursday at Arizona. After that, Colorado has four more games on the road — at Anaheim on Friday, Calgary on March 23, Edmonton on March 25 and Vancouver on March 26. The Avalanche will return to Denver from Anaheim, so the stretch actually is a two-game trip and a three-game trip.
