Avs bounce Blues to get back to winning ways

The Colorado Avalanche normally start their morning skate practice at 10:30 AM on game days. This morning though, as the media filed into the main seating bowl at Ball Arena, the team was noticeably absent from the ice until almost 10:45. 

Once media availability rolled around, head coach Jared Bednar reviled that the team was late getting on the ice because they were having an extended meeting, led by the team’s leadership core. 

This wasn’t a “players only” meeting or anything like that, but more of the group getting together and acknowledging that the level of play that has been put on the ice during the team’s four-game losing streak just purely hasn’t been acceptable. 

There was a different sense of urgency and focus to the Avs once they eventually did take to the ice for the AM skate. It has, noticeably, been difficult for this Avalanche group to stay motivated lately. After all, they locked up the top seed in the Western Conference almost two full weeks ago and there just hasn’t been much to play for since. 

Tonight though, you had a white-hot division rival (and potential second-round opponent) coming into town in the St. Louis Blues, and the Avs really wanted and needed to get back on the right foot as we come down the stretch.

As soon as the puck dropped in the first period, you could tell that the Avalanche were more dialed in than they had been at any point during this less-than-ideal four-game stretch. They were engaged, passes were much more crisp, their breakouts were clean, and they just looked more cohesive as a unit. 

It was a slow-moving, yet eventful first period. These two teams don’t like each other, and I thought the intensity showed. Lots of back and forth, and some really good physicality.  While it was a good period, it would end scoreless.

It was all Avs to start the second. They were everywhere just relentlessly pressuring St. Louis all over the ice, and it didn’t take long for them to cash in. Just before the three-minute mark of the period, Val Nichushkin let a shot go from just above the circle, it evaded a slew of bodies in front and made its way past Jordan Binnington to get the Avs a 1-0 lead. Again, for the first time in well over a week, it felt like they were off and running. 

As dominant as they had been, that goal seemed to kick the Avalanche into another gear, and it took them only two minutes to extend the lead as a product of their suffocating forecheck. 

The Avs forced a turnover as the Blues were attempting to exit their zone, and suddenly J.T. Compher found himself on a partial break where he made a move outside, then tried to slide the puck back inside, and even though it didn’t go in initially, the rebound landed right on the stick of Erik Johnson, who was staring at a wide-open net. 

If you’re the Blues, how disheartening. You go from being in a super competitive 0-0 game, and in the blink of an eye, you’re chasing a multi-goal deficit. 

If you’re the Avs in this moment, complete opposite. Not only are you feeling great about now having the lead, but you could see they were getting some mojo back. It looked like they were having fun out there for the first time since knocking off the Carolina Hurricanes back on April 16th.

The next Avalanche goal didn’t come as quickly as the previous two, but the dominance remained the same. We were starting to get close to the halfway point of the second period, and the Blues had yet to record a shot on net, and it was about to get worse for them. 

Just barely over eight minutes into the middle frame, Avs defenseman Josh Manson floated a puck on net, and I don’t know for sure what happened, but Jordan Binnington never saw it, and just like that it was 3-0. 

You knew the pushback from St. Louis would come eventually, but it really kind of felt like they had let it slip too far, and gave the Avs too much momentum to be able to mount a comeback. 

The Blues finally got a puck on net and were able to dial it up enough to draw a penalty and try to gain some momentum. Thanks to a beautiful tick-tack-toe passing play, old friend Brandon Saad was wide open on the back door for a tap-in goal to close the gap to two goals. 

This was where the test really started for Colorado, it was a chance to show that they were truly out of this fog that seemed to follow them around during their three game road trip. After all, one of the hallmarks of this season has been the Avs’ ability to lock things down once they get out in front. 

While I probably wouldn’t describe it as “locked down”, the Avs responded well and didn’t give the Blues much the rest of the period. 

The period would end at 3-1, and the pressure really seemed to come off for the Avalanche. You didn’t want to be protecting a one-goal lead after doing so many good things in the second. 

It became crystal clear as soon as the puck dropped for the third that the Avs wanted to bury any hope that St. Louis had of mounting a comeback. 

It took only nine seconds for Val Nichushkin to pick off a flubbed Binnington pass, and feed it out front to Artturi Lehkonen, who laid it under a scrambling Binnington. 

You could see it in the body language of the players, that goal ended this one. The third period would be a good back and forth period, and to the Blues’ credit, they had a nice push late to make it a game, but a Nazem Kadri empty netter would ice it with less than a minute left on the clock.

While the toughest test is still a week or so away, you’ve gotta be breathing easier if you’re Jared Bednar and the Avalanche. It was a great effort, and a good process game. 

Jared Bednar reinforced this morning that he and his staff were not concerned with the results of the final three games of the year, but wanted to see the team play with urgency and within their system. Tonight, they did that, AND got the result they wanted. 

Two games to go before the rigorous journey through the Stanley Cup Playoffs begins, and Erik Johnson said after the games that this recent stretch hasn’t caused them to doubt themselves, but they wanted to get a good game in just to prove to themselves that they still know to compete the right way as we approach the end of the season. 

Josh Manson put it best by saying, “Frustration is a useless emotion” after the game. Tonight I thought we saw a team that didn’t allow themselves to get consumed by the moment, something we’ve seen just sink this franchise in the past. They battled through a tough week, didn’t get frustrated, and took care of business.