Studs

Alexandar Georgiev

We’ll just start here. I say this literally every time and will just continue doing so, but if a goaltender gets a shutout in an NHL game, he’s a stud that night, no questions asked. This wasn’t the most impressive of Georgiev’s five shutouts this year, but at 27 saves he was at least seriously tested for some of it.

Most of those tests came in the first period, but Georgiev stood tall as the team in front of him was still getting the road trip cobwebs knocked from their skates. The team came out sloppy but Georgiev was sharp. This was easily his best save of the night in my eyes.

He is moving across his crease and is completely square to the puck. That’s how locked in Georgiev was tonight.

Denis Malgin

This Denis the Menace stuff has really taken off. It was one thing when he started a goal here and there, but a three-point night? His first goal is simply a thing of beauty, too, as he and Val Nichushkin play off each other perfectly through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone.

Malgin took advantage of Stalock’s absolutely awful positioning to make it 2-0 in the game and it honestly felt like it was over after that. Colorado continued pressing and Chicago went quietly into the good night.

I could keep up with the conversation about Malgin, but just watch his three-point night for yourself. He was awesome on the first two goals and lucky on the third. When you’re hot, you’re hot.

I love that his first goal started with a good play by him in the defensive zone. Coaches always preach that it starts where, but it’s consistently true.

Special teams

Between Georgiev and Colorado’s special teams, I feel like I’m writing about a few elements of the Avalanche every night. There weren’t many penalties called tonight (there certainly could have been more, including the ten-second sequence in the first period in which Chicago had six skaters in the defensive zone and none were even attempting to get off the ice!), but the ones that were gave each team important chances.

For Chicago, they got early chances to get on the scoreboard and the Avs shut them down and when Colorado got its lone opportunity in the second period, they handled business with a Mikko Rantanen rocket over Stalock’s shoulder. A perfect shot for his 47th goal of the season, Rantanen continued his pursuit of the 50-goal mark.

It’s not often you have a perfect night of special teams, but when you do, you land in Studs.

The fundamentals

All hockey fans love the highlight-reel goals, breakaways and odd-man rushes and high-skill plays that bring fans out of their seats. Those sell the game and make for wonderful YouTube cannon fodder.

What wins postseason hockey games, however, is a lot more methodical, a lot more intentional, and, maybe most importantly, a lot more reliable and repeatable. That style of hockey is the grind-it-out cycle hockey. Don’t have a play? Cycle the puck. Around the boards. Let your teammates fight another day and keep moving your feet to make something happen.

When you watch two of Colorado’s goals tonight, you see yeoman’s work done along the boards by both Matt Nieto and Alex Newhook (first goal) and Lars Eller (fourth goal). There’s plenty of skill involved, but let’s give some love to these two guys for doing the kind of mucking and grinding that will play a month from now when the Avs are in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Newhook and Nieto’s work:

The goal is completely lucky, but the work leading up to it is anything but luck. That’s just hard work and desire. When Brad Hunt’s shot is stopped, the rebound looks sure to get out of the zone but Newhook just outskates and outworks the Blackhawks player to keep possession in the zone.

When we talk about Newhook, it’s almost all about his skill level but this is the stuff that playing in Colorado’s bottom six for two years has instilled in him. The heart of an absolute lion roars within #18.

Eller’s work:

It should be noted that Sam Girard’s effort on that goal was also fantastic.

This camera angle

I just thought this was awesome.

Duds

Tanking season

I don’t have a dud for the Avs tonight. Nothing about faceoffs, nothing about broken plays or anything. It was a comfortable 5-0 win for the Avs tonight. There’s very little for me to quibble with from my seat. No doubt the coaching staff will pull some details for guys tomorrow but I’m not on the coaching staff so I won’t nitpick an otherwise excellent performance that got better as the game progressed.

I will, however, quibble with the team Chicago put on the ice. While Central Division foe Arizona is outperforming the team is has built, it’s admirable to watch them compete as hard as they do and win some games along the way. They should be bottoming out but the team’s veterans simply aren’t allowing it right now. It could cost them Connor Bedard, but we all make choices in life.

Chicago, however, is icing an absolutely putrid team. There are very few noteworthy veterans remaining after the trade deadline purge and there are even fewer young players who have a serious chance to stick in this league for a long time. This is a team built to lose games just like this. They played hard, which you absolutely respect, but I’m annoyed watching a team’s front office that isn’t even kind of trying potentially get rewarded with a franchise-altering player in Bedard.

Because of Colorado’s front-loaded schedule, the Avs could have several more games just like this one ahead of them. They’ll of course take easy wins where they can get them, but sitting through a few more beatdowns of teams wanting to be beaten down? It’s just not a very interesting product. Colorado’s schedule, in particular, exacerbates this with six of their final 13 games against Arizona, Anaheim, and San Jose.

I didn’t have a lot for this section tonight, so I’m whining about bad hockey.

Unsung Hero

Alex Galchenyuk

We’ll start with the highlights first.

Five shots on goal and eight shot attempts for a guy playing on the fourth line? That’s a really encouraging game, but he was a legitimate part of his line’s territorial dominance tonight. There were a couple of great skill plays in that video package but what you also saw was a committed player working hard.

It’s his puck pressure at the blueline that leads to a turnover on his final shot on goal. One of those clips has Jack Johnson getting the puck to Galchenyuk as he’s entering into the offensive zone and he whips a perfect cross-ice pass to Newhook on a one-touch. The hints of his natural playmaking and puck skill were all over the place tonight. You could see a tantalizing all-around player.

Obviously, the questions remain about his ability to keep it up and play at a consistent level, especially in limited ice time, but this was a very encouraging night all things considered. I understand it’s against a terrible Chicago team, but a guy like Galchenyuk has to start somewhere. Let’s hope tonight was that.