The Colorado Avalanche concluded their three-game road trip Thursday evening in Salt Lake City with a statement victory over the NHL’s “Newest” team.
The 5-1 victory for Colorado kept them perfect on this road trip and leveled off the season, erasing the 0-4 start to the campaign and getting the club back to .500 at 4-4. And though the victory was important for all the statistical reasons, the way they played the game held perhaps greater importance in the young season.
To be clear, there was never any outward panic within the ranks or in the room with how the season began. Players remained calm and resolved and took ownership of mistakes. Jared Bednar never revealed in-game or otherwise, even the slightest change in his pulse or blood pressure. For all intents and purposes it had always been just business as usual for the Avalanche.
The devil was in the details. Conversations here and there, some intense moments in practice, some manipulations of the lines. Small things that led to a now 4 game-winning streak with almost all systems normal. And keep in mind, the Avalanche are still not operating with their full complement of players. As we kept saying…if you’re going through hell, just keep going. The Avalanche did, and for the moment, are through.
The biggest question through 4 games was between the pipes. Alexandar Georgiev was anointed the starter roll to begin the year, but a dismal performance in all his starts threw that into question. Whether he is or isn’t still the starter is a question without an answer. Justus Annunen has been virtually flawless in his starts and is firmly the reason Colorado is back to a .500 team. Thursday evening against the Utah hockey club he stopped 25 of the 26 he faced with the lone blemish not a result of anything he did or did not do.
Over the course of this 3-game road trip, it was easy to see the confidence rise within the group, a direct result of the play of Annunen. Breakouts were more frequent and relaxed. The defensive zone coverage was more robust and less “stressed”. The Avalanche were back to playing Avalanche hockey, and that certainly has a lot to do with the performance they were finally getting in net.
Nothing in hockey, or anything for that matter, is ever perfect, but Colorado played three near-perfect periods at the Delta Center, including scoring contributions from multiple sources. Ross Colton, who has been red hot lately skating on a line with Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon, started the scoring with his seventh of the year.
With just under two minutes to play in an Avalanche-dominated first, Cale Makar continued to show why he is the best defenseman in the NHL. The effortless transition between shutdown D-man and seemingly power forward was again on display. He made it 2-0 on a snapper to close out the opening 20 minutes.
The Avalanche added two more in the second for a comfortable 4-0 lead by the 17:33 mark. Casey Mittlestadt has been a blinding bright spot for the Avalanche. His fifth of the year and second point on the night (he assisted on Colton’s goal) made it 3-0.
In the closing minutes of the period, while on the powerplay, Mittlestadt assisted on Ivan Ivan’s first career NHL goal. And though there were still 20 minutes of hockey remaining, it was hard to escape the feeling of an inevitable win. The Avalanche were thriving, and the Utah Hockey Club were spectators to it.
The third was safe hockey for the Avalanche who were clearly trying to preserve the shutout for Annunen, who when tested, was up to task. But with under 5 to play, a miss on timing and communication led to a breakdown at the Avalanche blue line which Lawson Crouse took advantage of for his third of the season, spoiling the perfect outing for Annunen.
Joel Kiviranta continued his prowess with the puck, netting his fourth of the year to punctuate the victory. The Avalanche and Utah matched each other in shots at 26, and again were hot with the man advantage going 2 for 4. Perhaps the only area of concern was at the dot, going 16 for 57 (21%) while Utah hummed with 41 for 57 (71.9%).
Of note, Colton did exit the game early with what the team has said is an upper-body injury. The Avalanche traveled back to Denver following the win and will spend Friday off before being back on the ice for practice Saturday. Colorado next faces the Ottawa Senators on Sunday and then the Chicago Blackhawks right away on Monday in a back-to-back.