Mikkel Boedker at Tuesday morning skate
ST. PAUL, Minn. — My game story on the Avalanche’s 6-3 loss to Minnesota is . (Alas, Bruce Springsteen, who played the Xcel Energy Center the night before and was a tough act to follow, was written out of the lede between the online-at-the-buzzer story and the later versions.)
And is the story from the morning skate, with Mikkel Boedker and Eric Gelinas talking about joining the Avalanche. Boedker addresses his pending UFA status. I refashioned that into a later sidebar for print and online, and that version is .
Although mentioned, lost a bit in the shuffle was that Jarome Iginla’s 608th career goal in the first minute pulled him into a tie with Dino Ciccarelli for 17th on the all-time NHL list, and Chris Bigras’ goal in the second period was the first of his career.
“When I hear that, it’s the same way,” said Iginla, who has been climbing the ladder and has been asked each time for his reaction. “It’s pretty neat, it’s pretty cool, but at the same time, tonight it isn’t that exciting when it was more about the importance of the game. I thought we had a chance to make a big comeback and we were going to find a way in the third, and it didn’t happen. So on another night and down in the future, I’ll definitely think it’s cool, but it’s not as exciting when you don’t win.”
Said Bigras, 20: “It’s a good feeling to get it out of the way. I just saw (Matt Duchene) on the far side there and he kind of drew all eyes on to him and I just tried to find a hole and he made a nice pass.”
Gelinas stepped into the third pairing with Bigras. Gelinas was a plus-1, Bigras even for the night.
Also making his Avalanche debut was Boedker, who was on the line with Nathan MacKinnon and Gabe Landeskog. Boedker was a minus-2, had one shot on goal and hit the post on a power play.
“We got off to a fast start with (Iginla’s) power play goal,” Boedker said. “But we had a couple of mishaps … I hit the post on that one and had a couple of good chances. I think we created some opportunities, so, yeah, you feel a little snakebit. You have to keep trying and pushing and they’re going to go in eventually.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or
