Valeri Nichushkin Shows Frustration At Practice As Colorado Avalanche Face Elimination

The Colorado Avalanche are facing elimination on Thursday night, and at practice, veteran forward Valeri Nichushkin hasn't hidden his frustration.

Despite coming into the Stanley Cup Playoffs full of confidence, the Colorado Avalanche have not been at their consistent best in their first-round series, as they now look to fend off elimination with a must-win Game 6 on Thursday night on home ice.

While there's been great moments for Colorado this series, there's also been plenty of struggles, and it appears that frustration may be getting to the more veteran members of this team.

Reportedly, ahead of Game 5, Valeri Nichushkin broke his stick at practice in frustration, and according to Evan Rawal, he has just done it again as the team continue to experience major frustration.

While Nichushkin has been a great playoff performer in the past, the 2025 post-season hasn't been kind to him thus far, as the veteran forward has just one goal in five games thus far, and with a goal differential of 0, it's easy to see why he's becoming more and more frustrated.

After two fantastic wins in games one and four, the Avalanche simply haven't been able to consistently perform, a they have just six goals in their three losses thus far, so unless they can step up and start scoring big goals, this could be a major disappointment in 2025 for Colorado.

With the likes of Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, this should be a team going on a deep Stanley Cup run this season, but thus far they've not looked like a consistent threat, so the hope now is that the frustration shown by Nichushkin and other veterans can lead them to playing angry, and perhaps that is their way to turn this series around.