Darcy Kuemper out-duels Andre Vasilevskiy in heavyweight thriller

Woah baby, talk about a heavyweight tilt. I mean seriously, who wouldn’t want seven games of what we saw tonight? Tonight’s game between the Colorado Avalanche and the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lighting is one that I personally have had circled on my calendar for a while now, and I think it would be safe to say the Avs probably did as well.

The Lightning, over the course of the last two seasons, have become the Gold Standard in the NHL. Consistency, accountability, structure, and most importantly, winning have become synonymous with Tampa Bay Lightning. They’re a team others want to model themselves after.

Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar, along with a lot of the players we’ve talked to this season, have mentioned Tampa as the team they are looking to emulate. As recently as this morning, Avs defenseman Erik Johnson said “they went through some ups and downs, we’ve been through the downs, and now we’re trying to get to that upper echelon that they’re at.”

After going into Tampa earlier this season and plucking a win out on the road, you knew we were in for a good one tonight. One team looking to show that they still are the class of the league and avoid being swept in the season series, and another trying to prove that they are ready to take over the mantle of best of the best and take all four available off the Bolts this season.

Well, with all of that build-up, this game did not disappoint. It was maybe the best hockey game of the season in terms of the overall product on the ice, as the Avs outlasted the Lightning 3-2 in a Thursday night thriller. 

The first period was maybe the most entertaining period of hockey we’ve seen this season. The Avs looked like they had spent 9 days thinking about how they let their home winning streak come to a grinding halt by the last-place Arizona Coyotes.

They were absolutely flying. To the point that for about the first 10 or so minutes, I actually thought Tampa Bay looked a little stunned. Colorado ran the shots up to 13-0 at one point, and eventually got out to a 2-0 lead after Landeskog redirected a Mikko Rantanen shot, and Devon Toews punched home a perfect back door feed from Nazem Kadri at 4-on-4.

You knew the pushback was coming eventually though, and while Tampa never took over and controlled the game, they’re similar to the Avs in terms of not needing a lot of chances to create something. Lightning superstar Nikita Kucherov, who was returning from injury tonight, finished off one of the nicest passing plays you’re gonna see to keep his team in it.

The second period wasn’t quite the electric factory that the first was, but man oh man was it some phenomenal hockey from both sides. 

Val Nicvhushkin extended the Avalanche lead early in the middle frame with the team’s second 4-on-4 goal of the game, and just a few minutes later, it looked like they had added to that when a centering pass went off of Erik Johnson’s leg in front of the net and crept its way to the goal line.

There was no call on the ice, so we had to wait after a review that lasted several minutes had concluded to get any sort of answer. When it was all said and done, the officials determined that the puck did not get 100% across the goal line, or at least there was no conclusive evidence that it had. It was the right call. Credit to Lightning goaltender Andre Vasilevskiy for making a stellar play on the puck.

Brayden Point would once again get Tampa Bay within one goal after finishing a ridiculous move on the breakaway right near the end of the period. The stretch immediately following that goal was probably the only time in this game that I thought Tampa really controlled the pace.

Even still, this game that had lived up to the hype was heading for a photo finish. 

And what a finish it was. The Avs had to hold a one-goal lead for 20 minutes against the Tampa Bay Lightning, a true measuring-stick of a task.

The Avalanche came out of the locker room and looked like they were ready to measure up. They played such a strong, steady third period, and with the help of Darcy Kuemper (more on him in a moment because, wow) it more or less just *felt* like the Avs were going to hold on and win.

The Avs have to be thrilled with that win. No Nathan MacKinnon, first game back after a long break, and they put forth one of their best efforts to knock off the two-time champs.

I’m wrapping up the summary of this third period relatively quick because I want to get on to observations, there was just so much to love about this game, but it really was just such a well-executed effort from the Avs that there isn’t a ton to say beyond that.

The Avalanche head out on the road to take on the Dallas Stars on Sunday, as they continue their COVID make-up schedule.

Jesse’s Observations:

• I’m starting with Darcy Kuemper. He was absolutely fantastic. He legitimately out-dueled Vasilevsky, right down to the bitter end. Kuemper made a number of very high-quality, key moment saves, and I don’t mean “key moment” in terms of the clock, I mean that as he made huge saves when his team made mistakes and needed to be bailed out. That’s what we’ve talked about him needing to do right? This Avs team is so good, and so skilled, they have all the tools they need to make a Cup run up front, but what has seemingly been missing for the last number of years is the goalie that has the ability to bail this team out, on the rare occasion it needs bailing out. Darcy Kuemper did that tonight, he was their best player for the last 2+ minutes of the game when the Lightning pulled their goaltender for the extra skater. He made the saves, battled for rebounds, and even found a puck through traffic and swallowed it up when the Avs desperately needed a line change. Kuemper did it all tonight.
• That third period was impressive. You’re playing maybe the only team that can truly match you in terms of speed and skill, and the Avalanche found a way to almost completely neutralize it. Landeskog spoke after the game and mentioned that the Avs did a good job of keeping their foot on the gas, even though they were defending a one-goal lead. If you go back and read my piece from the Avs OT win over the Boston Bruins a few weeks ago, you’ll see this is something I talked about in terms of costing Boston that game. The Bruins went into “don’t lose” mode and lost. The Avs recognized what had made them successful in this game, and kept doing it.
• The first period was, in my opinion, the Avs’ best period of the season. It really set the tone for the rest of the game for the Avalanche, they hung 24 (!!!) shots on the Bolts in the opening frame and really looked like they were trying to make a statement. Just to show how truly dominant it was.. after those 24 shots in the first, the Avs would finish the game with 48. Meaning they put half of those on net in the opening 20 minutes.

Meghan’s Observations:

• In his pre-game media availability, Sakic talked about the value of Valeri Nichuskin and his desire to see Val in Colorado next season.
• “Oh, we’d love to keep Val, 100%. He’s been tremendous for us. He’s scoring more this year. When he’s on the ice, he’s a great defending winger. He’s on top of it. He makes a difference every single night on the forecheck and driving plays. Huge player for us.”
• The timing of Sakic’s feedback concerning Nichushkin is appropriate. He was utilized in just about every scenario and effective in each. With the most shots on goal of anyone on the team, to say that he drives the play is a proper assessment. 
• Not to be outdone, Devon Toews remains one of the biggest assets. In his postgame presser, Landeskog talks about the efforts of the team when key players like MacKinnon are out – the “Next Man Up Mentality”. Toews is an impact player with frequency, but his value shines bright in games like tonight. He is solid defensively and contributes offensively without hesitation (6 SOG, 2 points).
• Despite not capitalizing on their powerplay opportunities, I thought the Avs powerplay showed promise. They controlled puck possession and created what I’d classify as more unique scoring opportunities than I’m used to seeing. I credit solid goaltending from Vasilevskiy.