The Colorado Avalanche lost the 2015-16 season opener 5-4 against the Minnesota Wild. It’s one out of 82, but it hurts nonetheless. Especially when you look at the goals against and realize — last season’s defensive issues are still there.
As a whole, the Avalanche only played hockey for 40 minutes. In the third period, it looked like a different team was playing. None of the things that worked in the first to periods would work in the final 20 minutes, and even more importantly, it looked like the players simply stopped working. The short answer is that that’s the reason why Colorado lost.