Tyson Jost toasts the hosts as Avs beat Lightning

Coming in on the second night of a back to back (SEGABABA) against a rested team, this was the old “scheduled loss” for the Avalanche in Tampa Bay.

Instead, Tyson Jost turned into his own personal breakout as Colorado exacted a little revenge for a loss that started a dark period of the season last year for the Avs.

Colorado rolled into Tampa Bay fresh off a win over the Florida Panthers last year and got blown out 7-1, spiking their momentum to that point and kickstarting a stretch where neither Avalanche goaltender could stop pucks.

This year, it was Andrei Vasilevskiy (Vasileaky?) who struggled to stop pucks as the Avalanche walked into Amalie Arena and pulled two points in a 6-2 win.

The real story of the game, however, was Jost getting the first hat trick of his career. He got the first goal of the game just minutes into the game and gave energy to an Avalanche team that needed the jump.

Tampa Bay tied the game later in the first period and heavily pressured Pavel Francouz but the 29-year-old rookie came up big and kept the game tied going into the second period.

That’s where Jost and the Avs took over.

Jost’s second came at 3:17 of the second, putting the Avs in front 2-1 and by the time he got his third at 6:06, it was 4-1 and Colorado was walking towards their seventh win in eight games to start the year.

Jost’s linemates Colin Wilson (three assists) and J.T. Compher (two assists) were pivotal in helping create the hat trick as they took the mantle as the team’s best line tonight. That was a key development as Colorado’s best line last night against the Panthers was their second line led by Nazem Kadri.

This ability to attack teams with all four lines is a major reason the team is now 7-0-1 and finishes the day number one in the NHL with 15 points. With St. Louis losing earlier today, Colorado has a six point lead in the standings heading into Monday’s matchup against the Blues.

GAME TAKEAWAYS

• This has to start with Jost. There has been a lot to feel good about with how he’s played the game so far and how hard he’s worked to put himself in position to maximize his talent. Up until tonight, it felt like he was just beating his head against a wall and wouldn’t ever have any kind of a breakthrough. And hey, Joe Colborne scored a hat trick for the Avs once upon a time, too, so maybe this doesn’t continue. But tomorrow can wait. This was a night Jost has been working towards his entire career. For once, this is just a moment to appreciate and let Jost soak it all in.
• Hypothetically speaking, if Jost’s breakout is real and he continues to produce, it sets Colorado up to be a dangerous team long-term. With MacKinnon and Kadri the clear-cut 1-2 punch for the next three years, Jost locking down the third center spot makes them deep and very skilled. It also presents questions about what to do with top prospects Shane Bowers and Alex Newhook, who are both centers and should push for NHL time before Kadri’s deal is expired. That sets up as a potential embarrassment of riches for Colorado down the middle. This could be a special group that stays that way for a long time and Jost is an x-factor in achieving that reality.
• Last night it was the second line, tonight the third line. As the first line continues to go through this period of struggles, they are being picked up by the guys around them and it is making all the difference in the world. This is the sign of a complete team with potential to be special.
• All the defensive struggles and Mikko Rantanen does what he did for that sixth goal. Just an unreal amount of talent. He absolutely needs to clean up his defensive coverage, though. He does that and he’ll be one of the most valuable players in the league. Until that happens, he’s an elite offensive force with a sub-par defensive game. He has the size and ability, just a matter of making it happen now.
• Wilson and Compher each made some spectacular plays in contributing to Jost’s hat trick. The Wilson stretch pass, especially, was awesome.
• Francouz’s performance should not be overlooked in this one. He was huge in the second half of the first period when Tampa Bay was putting the screws to Colorado. He came up with a couple of highlight-reel saves that kept the Lightning attack at bay. When the Avs came out for the second period, they blitzed the home team and took control of the game. They never have the chance to do that if Francouz doesn’t play exceptionally well at the end of the first.
• That’s certainly not to ding Francouz for his play the rest of the game. He made 44 saves on 46 shots on goal. He is now 2-0 on the season and early returns are showing Colorado’s leap of faith with him was a good one.
• A lot was made of Nikita Zadorov’s healthy scratch earlier this week and the toughness and physicality he brings to the team. But people apparently forget Colorado’s leader in fights last year was Matt Calvert, who got into two scraps tonight when the Lightning tried to tough guy their way back into the game. His second fight was against Victor Hedman with just 17 seconds remaining and goes to show that every guy on this team is playing for the logo on the front, not the nameplate on the back. This is a TEAM and nobody embodies that more than Calvert and the buzzsaw fourth line he is a key part of.
• Sam Girard picked up an assist on the first Avalanche goal and he absolutely earned it. It was a great read for him to cross the ice and keep the puck into the zone and then he made a great play to find Jost. We often reward result over process in this world but in this case, both were downright great.
• Early season is when you can have fun with silly numbers and maybe my favorite on the Avs right now is Cale Makar, who snagged another assist tonight. That gives him seven assists on the season, same as the number of shots on goal he’s recorded.
• Colorado’s six-game road trip of death is now 66% completed and the Avs have banked seven of eight possible points. We said coming in that a 3-3 record against that schedule would be good. At 3-0-1 already, they will finish this road trip better than that no matter what.
• It’s still early and all of those caveats obviously apply but I don’t know how you can’t get hyped about this team right now. There are problem areas (the PP has gone dark) but overall they are finding their way through whatever adversity presents itself in games. Hard not to believe this is a special team.