Recap: Avalanche survive bad goaltending duel in Columbus

Colorado officially clinches a playoff berth in the 7-3 win.

After the shootout win in Chicago it was a quick turnaround for the Colorado Avalanche, including some unfortunate travel logistics, to play a desperate Columbus Blue Jackets squad looking to make the postseason the first time since their rebuild. Instead, it was the Avalanche punching their ticket to playoffs in a wild and wacky 7-3 win. It wasn’t easy but Cale Makar’s 30th goal gave Colorado the momentum they needed to pull away in the second half of the game.

The Game

If the Avalanche were weary it didn’t show in the start of the game as they had energy and opened the scoring on a Nathan MacKinnon goal at 3:24 which put him ahead in the Art Ross Trophy race for the time being. It didn’t take long for the Blue Jackets to answer back, however. Three minutes later Sean Monahan found a loose rebound in the crease and whacked the puck past MacKenzie Blackwood making his first start since the weekend.

After some ineffective play including a power play, the Avalanche found some life again on a Brock Nelson goal at 18:04. A Cale Makar shot bounced to a wide open Nelson who chipped the puck into a yawning cage to put the Avalanche ahead 2-1 at the conclusion of the first period.

To start the second frame, Colorado had to kill a too many men penalty and then Blackwood gave up a soft sharp angle goal that trickled through him to Zach Aston-Reese at 4:16. It didn’t get much better from there as Boone Jenner deposited a Jack Johnson shot that bounced out of Blackwood’s glove at 7:56 and put Columbus up 3-2.

Columbus at that point was in a good position to grind out a win until the wheels fell off in the second half of the period as Elvis Merzlikins got sniped by both Charlie Coyle and Parker Kelly within a minute of each other to put the Avalanche up by a score. One more power play opportunity and Cale Makar scored his 30th goal of the season in the dying seconds of the man advantage and period for a 5-3 lead after 40 minutes of play.

What finally got Merzlikins pulled was Devon Toews and Miles Wood scoring within the first six minutes of the third period. The game was all but over at that point and it didn’t matter that Daniil Tarasov saved all four shots he faced. The Avalanche cruised through the rest of the third period and arrived at their 7-3 victory.

Takeaways

It was a thinner lineup than the Avalanche have been used to with Sam Girard still missing plus the inclusion of Jonathan Drouin and Martin Necas on the shelf after getting banged up in the Chicago game. Full health updates will have to come when the team returns to Colorado.

Mackenzie Blackwood had almost a week of rest with Scott Wedgewood starting the two games previous to this. Surely there’s no goaltending controversy but Blackwood hasn’t looked at sharp lately and Colorado elected to bring AHL goaltender Kevin Mandolese along for the road trip. Something to watch down the stretch but Blackwood did enough after an uneven start to secure the win in this contest.

Cale Makar reached an incredible milestone hitting the 30 goal mark and is just the ninth defenseman in NHL history to do so. His goal in the second period really turned the game for Colorado and gave them the momentum to close the game out. Makar truly is a game changer and earning this achievement might have just solidified his second Norris Trophy.

Upcoming

One last game on the road trip in a rematch with the St. Louis Blues at 5:00 p.m. MT on Saturday, April 4th.