Gabriel Bourque showed why hockey is the ultimate team sport

Two players were on the ice together – Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Bourque – and one unleashed a beauty of a wrist shot from the right circle to just inside the far post. If you were laying odds on which player would score the goal, you’d have bet the mortgage on No. 29 instead of 57, right?

On a night when some things just didn’t make a lot of sense — including why the Avs’ top goal-scorer was on the ice with the team’s lowest goal-scorer – Bourque’s sick snipe was the game-winner in Colorado’s 4-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights.

Do you feel properly shamed now, Bourque haters?

Taking verbal potshots from the critics is part of the job for pro athletes, but Bourque has taken more than his share this year. And, to be fair, it’s been warranted at times. He entered this game with one goal, an empty-netter, in 49 games. He’s not flashy, not fancy, not particularly speedy.

But you know who has scored some big goals this time of year for the Colorado Avalanche the last two years?

Gabriel Bourque. Two in the postseason against Nashville last spring, and a goal Wednesday night that got the Avs two giant points in this down-to-wire mad dash fight for the second and final wild-card spot in the West. The Avs now have a two-point lead on Arizona, with the Coyotes coming to town Friday night.

Bourque figures to be in Jared Bednar’s lineup.

“Everybody is hard on Bourquie, but they don’t see the things that he does for us,” Bednar said. “Some nights, he plays three minutes on the penalty kill, some nights four or five minutes even strength, and people expect miracles. It’s tough to create offensively with seven minutes a night, in a limited role. But what he does give you is that sturdy play, good defense, always manages the puck OK. He came into the league with great numbers as a junior and he has more skill than people realize. You don’t have four lines of guys who can just jump around the ice and score goals, generally. There’s roles to fill, within our lineup, and that’s why he’s out there.”

Bourque does do things for this team. He is tied for second on the team in hits, at 1.9 per game. He ranks second on the team among forwards in short-handed ice time (2:36). Does he do a lot offensively? Usually, no. But on a night like Wednesday, he showed he can.

When asked about his goal, the first thing Bourque did was credit Nikita Zadorov for the pass to him in the right circle. That’s why he, through all the slings and arrows he’s taken from the critics, Bourque is a well-liked player in the dressing room.

To goalie Philipp Grubauer, Bourque showed his classy character by how he acted through a fairly long stretch in which he was a healthy scratch.

“He didn’t play for a couple months, and his attitude was unbelievable,” said Grubauer, who stopped 34-of-37 shots for the win. “He was always firing the guys up and was there for the guys, and that never changed. I’m really happy for him. That was a huge goal for us.”

Bourque, playing on a one-year contract worth $950,000, doesn’t take things personally – either from the coach or from the fans.

“It’s never been easy. I just need to keep working. I know my job and I know my role and I’m happy to be here,” said Bourque, 28. “Every time I’m on the ice, I know I just have to work hard.”

Nice guys don’t finish last. Not on this night anyway.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS AND TAKEAWAYS

• Avs almost saw that thing go to overtime. Vegas had a 6-on-4 for the final eight seconds because of a weird MacKinnon holding-the-stick penalty, on a play that should have just been an easy clear out of the zone. Vegas got a great scoring chance right there near the buzzer, but missed.
• MacKinnon had a strong night otherwise, scoring a power-play goal, adding an assist and winning 9-of-12 faceoffs.
• Three more points for Tyson Barrie, inluding his 73rd career goal – setting a new Avs franchise record for D-men. He’s been a real leading man for this team of late.
• Tyson Jost seemed to get dinged up somewhere in the third period. He finished out the game, but you hope it’s not something that will develop in a negative way overnight.
• Vegas is a darned good team. But this game showed that, if Marc-Andre Fleury isn’t healthy, this team has problems in goal.

NOTES AND QUOTES FROM AVS PR

Colorado’s win was the 500th regular-season win at home since moving to Denver in 1995 and the 800th home victory for the Nordiques/Avalanche franchise.
The Avalanche has scored the first goal in seven straight games (5-1-1 record) and is 27-5-6 when scoring first this season.
The Avs concluded their season series against Vegas, finishing 2-1-0 versus the Knights. Colorado is 3-0-0 all-time against Vegas at Pepsi Center.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar picked up his 100th career NHL coaching victory.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Tyson Barrie scored the 73rd goal of his career, taking sole possession
of first place on franchise’s all-time list of goals by a defenseman (Sandis Ozolinsh, 72). Barrie is now Quebec/Colorado’s all-time defensive leader in goals (73), assists (231) and points (304).
Barrie finished with two assists to bring his season total to 44, a new career high (43 in 2017-18). It’s the most assists by an Avalanche defenseman since Ray Bourque had 52 in 2000-01.
Barrie now has 56 points (12g, 44a) this season, moving into a tie for
sixth (Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang) among NHL blueliners in scoring. He
has registered 12 points (6g, 6a) in the month of March, ranked second
on the team (Nathan MacKinnon: 5-8-13) for scoring this month.Matt Calvert’s first-period goal was his 25th point of the season, a new career high. Calvert surpassed his previous career best of 24 points, which he achieved three times (2013-14, 2015-16 nad 2017-18 with
Columbus).
Tyson Jost notched an assist to register his 23rd point of the season
and eclipse his point total (22) from his rookie campaign in 2017-18.

Nathan MacKinnon registered two points (1g, 1a) and now has 94 points (38g, 56a) in 2018-19, tied for sixth in the NHL (Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby). He is one goal shy of matching his career high of 39 markers in 2017-18.
Philipp Grubauer earned his career-best 16th win of the season (15 in 2017-18) and made his sixth consecutive start of the season, a career long that surpasses his previous career high of consecutive starts (five games: Dec. 23, 2013-Jan. 2, 2014). Grubauer is 5-0-1 over his last six outings.
Gabriel Bourque scored his first game-winning goal of the season and the sixth of his career (last: Feb. 11, 2018 at Buffalo).
QUOTES
Colorado C Colin Wilson
On Getting The Win: “It’s a race right now, a race to the finish. You know, five games left now. It was an intense game. They managed to get within one goal, but it’s a huge two points for us.”
On Goaltending And Secondary Scoring: “It’s fantastic. I mean it’s helping us win games. Grubi’s (Colorado G Philipp Grubauer) been amazing in net. A lot of guys are chipping in for goals. I was excited for Bourquey (Colorado LW Gabriel Bourque) tonight, Calvy (Colorado LW Matt Calvert) as well, so keep rolling from here.”
Colorado D Tyson Barrie
On Setting The Record For Most Goals By An Avs’ Defenseman: “It’s great. I was a huge fan of the Avs growing up and Rob Blake was my favorite player. It’s the reason I wear No. 4 and it’s kind of been a dream come true to get up there with some of those guys. You know, to have a couple of these records is a great feeling, but the best part right now is to be playing meaningful hockey with five games left. It’s a lot of fun and I think the guys are embracing it and we’re trying everything we can to get into the playoffs.”
On The End Of The Game: “They’ve been playing some really good hockey lately. They got a good team. You know, we kind of knew they were going to make a push and it was nice to see us hold it off and get those two points. It was a bit nerve-racking. You know, I don’t think we’d want to give one up with 3:30 left. It was a grind-out win. The guys showed a lot of character and it was nice to see.”
Colorado G Philipp Grubauer
On The First Period: “Two quick goals and a couple shots before they even got a shot on our net. It makes it a lot easier to play. Not that we played loosely, but it was just nice to have that start for sure.”
On Colorado LW Gabriel Bourque’s Goal: “[It was] huge. [I am] happy for him. With the history he has, not playing too many times, and then being in the lineup consistently in the last few couple of weeks, really, really happy for him. It was a huge goal tonight. It was good.”

Vegas RW Reilly Smith
On Tonight’s Game: “I think we were the better team tonight, but we put ourselves in a hole in the first period and didn’t have enough to dig ourself out.”
On Vegas’ Performance: “I think we were a little slow in the first period. I think we just had to do a better job coming in with a little bit more effort in the first period and sometimes the legs aren’t there. You just got to be a little smarter with the puck and a couple costly plays put us behind 2-0 early.”
Vegas RW Alex Tuch
On Vegas C Jonathan Marchessault’s Fight: “He dropped them, he was fired up and he got the rest of the team fired up. So, I thought that a lot of guys kind of opened their eyes a little bit and said, you know what, we got to play better. We got to put as much effort on the ice as Marchy (Vegas C Jonathan Marchessault) did in a scruffle, fight, however you want to call it. So, it’s a little energy boost and making the guy bloody a little bit gave us a little more energy boost, too. It was a good play by a veteran guy, coming out, stepping up and trying to turn the game around.”
On Matching Colorado’s Intensity: “I thought we did that in the last little bit of the second period and the entire third period I thought we were pretty dominant. Just bad start, terrible start left Subby (Vegas G Malcolm Subban) hanging couple too many times. He’s been really good for us lately, but he’s not going to stop a guy coming down the slot with no one on him every time. He bailed us out a couple times tonight and we weren’t able to capitalize on all our opportunities. But, going forward, especially playing a team on the road, a team that’s this desperate and playing playoff hockey right now, we have to have better starts.”