The Colorado Avalanche have their spark back. With Valeri Nichushkin back in the lineup, the Avs have played like a more confident team this week. Why wouldn’t they though?
With Friday’s 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild, which started with a goal from Nichushkin in the first period, Colorado has now won seven straight when ‘Big Val’ is on the ice. They’re 16-7 this year when he’s in the lineup and just 19-17 when he’s not. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that math.
It’s also pretty easy to understand that out-scoring the opposition 10-3 in the first two games of a home stand is a highly effective way to operate. And although Jared Bednar was not quite as pleased as he was with the 5-1 win over New Jersey on Wednesday, it was still a significant performance that resulted in a crucial couple of points to tie Minnesota in the Central Division standings.
Here’s some more takeaways from Ball Arena.
Sloppy start
The Avs didn’t look all that locked in early. They out-shot the Wild 15-10 in the first period but were far too sloppy with the puck. More importantly they gave up a couple of high-quality scoring chances, two of which ended up finding the back of the net for Minnesota.
Mats Zuccarello got the party started for the Wild after an untimely giveaway from Sam Girard in the corner resulted in an easy scoring opportunity for Minnesota in front of the net. Credit Marcus Johanson for a nice feed but Zucarello didn’t have to worry about much given how much space there was between him and anybody on the Avs. Regardless, he proceeded to bury a wrist shot past Mackenzie Blackwood glove side.
Colorado would actually get away with another very similar situation later in the period. But the silver lining was outside of a power-play goal that put the Avs down 2-1 after Nichushkin had briefly tied it up with a power-play goal of his own, none of the other mistakes in the game proved to be fatal for the home squad.
It’s not like they looked awful over the first 20 minutes or anything like that. The Avs just didn’t play with quite the same level of intensity that they’d show later on. A couple of careless mistakes also cost them in a major way. Ie. penalties, turnovers, etc.
It flipped in a hurry
Fortunately for the Avs faithful who turned out in a major way for an important divisional game, it didn’t take long for the boys in Burgundy & Blue to break things open.
A tremendous pass from Oliver Kylington set up Jonathon Drouin for the game-tying goal about 9 minutes in (2-2). The Avs then scored again less than a minute later when Jack Drury somehow found the net through traffic with a nice backhand shot (3-2).
It was Ross Colton’s first goal, though, that made it abundantly clear the Avs had taken full control of the game. After Minnesota nearly foiled an odd-man rush from Kylington and Colton, the 28-year-old forward had enough wherewithal to corral the loose puck and just rip it on net. It was his first goal since Jan. 09 and it really cemented a pretty dominant second period from the Avs. Colton would later bury an empty-netter in the final seconds of the third as well.
Colorado finished the second with a 13-5 advantage in shots on goal but the key stat of the period was three goals produced between the second and third lines. You know you’re just about always going to get good looks from the top unit. It was a really encouraging sign to see the pressure and scoring chances those other guys were able to create and capitalize on.
Mackenzie Blackwood sealed the deal
The Wild ended up producing a handful of decent scoring chances in the third period. Their best chance for a third goal was actually probably in the closing seconds of the second period. Anything that Minnesota was able to generate over the final 40 minutes, Mackenzie Blackwood had an answer for though.
The defense was a little rough out of the gate, which certainly didn’t help. As the game went along, the Avs figured things out defensively. At the very least they stopped allowing Minnesota to pass the puck to wide-open guys in the slot.
But after the guys in front of him stepped up to establish a multi-goal lead, Blackwood made sure not to waste it and was rock solid between the pipes. He finished with a save percentage of .900 and made two or three significant saves that very easily could have been momentum-flipping goals for Minnesota.
Catch your breath
The Avs did what they needed to do in the first two games of a six-game home stand. Now they have a rare three days off at home.
This is a big opportunity for the guys to get some rest and recovery, particularly those that participated in the 4 Nations event. Bednar said postgame that this will be a key couple of days to get off the legs — even if it means they’ll pay for it at some point on the schedule in a really busy March.