from Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post,

Catch the Avs, if you can.

They’re furiously fast. They’re freakin’ good. And they know it.

“We feel like we can beat any team,” Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon told me Wednesday. “If we play our best, we feel like we can beat anybody, which is something we’ve never really felt before on this team.”

As MacKinnon plopped down at his locker, removing his practice gear, he was surrounded by hockey speed that can kill and talent Colorado has not enjoyed since Joe Sakic was skating instead of sitting in the team’s front office.

Led by MacKinnon, the world’s best hockey player on any given night, the big “A” on the team’s sweater is now surrounded by an unspoken but unmistakable “S,” “W” and “G.”

For the first time in a long time, the Avalanche hits the ice with the swag of talented players who have not only have arrived but are itching to knock down the door. I think it’s safe to say Colorado has never put a faster team on the ice.

continued