Amalie Materna as the valkyrie Brunnhilde (1876)
They say “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings,” but who actually is the fat lady? It turns out the colloquialism refers to opera sopranos who were traditionally overweight, most notably with imagery from the role of the valkyrie Brunnhilde, who’s final scene in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen lasted nearly 20 minutes. I get winded after belting out the lyrics to “Dancing Queen.” Regardless of my poor singing abilities, the Colorado Avalanche were the epitome of the proverb in Monday night’s game, where they scored with 0.1 seconds remaining in the third period for the go-ahead goal. It might not have been in the voice of a talented soprano, but I was certainly voicing my jubilation for over 20 mins.
The Avalanche have not played a meaningful game since March 11th vs. the Rangers, where they were second in the Western Conference when the NHL put a hold on the season. After over four months without play, it was uncertain what the Avs would look like returning to the ice. In their exhibition win against the Minnesota Wild, both teams looked rusty, but when it had been 139 days since their last game, I’m just glad they remembered how to skate. However, when the puck dropped in their first game of the round-robin series to determine the top four seeds of the West, it appeared that the Avs had found their legs again. They out shot the St. Louis Blues 16-4 in the first period. Unfortunately, the scoreboard favored the Blues 1-0 after they scored in their first power play of the game.
The Blues came back in the second period with a little more force, but both teams couldn’t find the back of the net, and it wasn’t until the third period when Ryan Graves finally put the Avs on the board to even the game. The Avs went on the Power Play with 1:57 left in the game after a hooking call on St. Louis’ Alexander Steen. After four unproductive power plays, the Avs were finally circling the puck and creating opportunities, but as the clock wound down, Landeskog’s shot went off the post, and it looked like we were bound for OT.
But Brunnhilde had not sung yet.
Nazem Kadri got the rebound and fired it in the net with 0.1 seconds left. The next seven minutes were spent reviewing the goal to determine if the entire puck crossed the line before the clock ran out. Looking at the replay it was near impossible to tell if it was a goal, with the puck in motion all that was visible was a blur of black in the shape of a comet, and as our announcers astutely observed, no puck is that long. The folks in Toronto must have agreed, because after much deliberation, the officials announced it a good goal. It literally doesn’t get closer than that.
The last and only time that a go-ahead goal was scored in the final second of a postseason game was by Jussi Jokinen of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2009, but Jokinen’s goal came at .2, making Kadri’s goal at .1 (and possibly even less) one for the history books. Kadri’s Comet will only be visible once in our lifetime.
While the Avs will be making the playoffs regardless of the outcome of the round-robin series, with crowd attendance at zero, and all games being played in Edmonton, home ice isn’t going to be a factor, but the win against St. Louis is worth celebrating. Not only did the Avs outplay the Stanley Cup Champions, but they also didn’t relent until literally the buzzer sounded. After over months off, every team’s roster is stacked with healthy players, and the Cup won’t necessarily go to the team who has had the best season so far, but how the teams respond in the COVID era postseason. The Avs proved that they can still compete at the level we have watched them play all season, and as they players find their rhythm again, they will only get better. After several long months, it is about time we had some good news. The Avs are back.
And while we may never get to see Kadri’s Comet again, at least we have YouTube.