Upstart Avalanche put back in place by defending champs

Regular seasons have 82 games in them but there are always a couple that stick out as particularly memorable.

With the Avalanche walking into St. Louis and temporary bragging rights about who sits atop the Central Division on the line, tonight was destined to be one of those games.

The Blues are the defending Stanley Cup champions and have been excellent to start the season, playing the same kind of grind-heavy style they won a championship with last season.

Stylistically they are the matchup built to shut Colorado’s prolific offense down. They are a forecheck-crazed banana boat that lives on the line of legality at every confrontation. They believe in the concept that officials won’t simply call every borderline interaction and they absolutely make teams pay for any mistakes made with a counter-attack that thrives on chaos.

All of that was on display tonight as the Blues unhinged their jaw and swallowed whole the lightning-quick Avalanche attack in a 5-2 victory.

While both teams were missing key players, the lack of Cale Makar and Erik Johnson once again stood out as Colorado’s puck management continued to be shoddy without them.

Turnovers in their own zone gave the Blues a Thanksgiving-sized portion of seconds and they used them to devastating effect throughout the night.

David Perron recorded a hat trick tonight as he got the scoring started on a play Philipp Grubauer never saw the puck. Naturally, Ryan O’Reilly got his obligatory point against the Avs out of the way nice and early. He would add another for extra salt in the wound later.

Nazem Kadri got the Avs on the board and make a game of it shortly into the second period. After a whale of uncalled obstruction passed through the eyes of the officials, the Avalanche finally got a power play and Mikko Rantanen blistered a puck past Jordan Binnington to give Colorado a 2-1 lead.

When the Blues dominated the first and led 1-0, Colorado’s response in the second frame was mighty impressive. They pushed back hard, scored twice, took the lead, and built a 13-2 shot advantage.

And then it all went to hell.

Alex Pietrangelo took a wild run at Mikko Rantanen, hitting him knee-on-knee and prompting a response from Nathan MacKinnon, who skated over and had words with the Blues’ captain. Pietrangelo hit MacKinnon in the face right in front of an official and all was deemed well and good.

Kadri then high-sticked a Blues player in the face as he was falling down, drawing a four-minute penalty.

In a span of 36 seconds, Colorado went from leading 2-1 to trailing 3-2 and going into the third period chasing against the league’s best closing team. Not a recipe for success, that.

Colorado put themselves into the St. Louis vice grip and all the Blues did in the third period was squeeze the life out of a potential Avalanche comeback. Sensing his team’s inability to generate offense at even strength and down two goals, head coach Jared Bednar pulled Grubauer with four minutes to play in favor of the extra attacker.

Like all bold gambits, it either works and you’re a genius or it fails and you’re a dope. This one blew up in Bednar’s face almost immediately as the Avalanche failed to generate any sustained pressure and O’Reilly chipped in on Perron’s third goal of the evening, drawing the littering of hats from a raucous Blues crowd.

It was certainly not the kind of game Colorado was hoping for as they faced a litmus test of sorts. They failed and will have to go back to the drawing board on this one.

Where they don’t have to go back, at least in the regular season, is St. Louis, as the Blues will travel to Denver three times this season to finish out the season series, including the 82nd and final game of the season.

Given the way these two teams have jockeyed for position the last few weeks, that could be a game that decides a division title and home-ice advantage should they matchup in the postseason.

One thing is for sure. If the road to the Stanley Cup goes through St. Louis, Colorado is going to have to find a map.

GAME TAKEAWAYS

• A typical Blues game, it was frustrating to watch as they just clamp down on the forecheck and never let go. Colorado was able to generate speed through the neutral zone and attack some in the second period but was unable to really generate many dangerous chances.
• Their most dangerous chance was probably Val Nichushkin’s clean breakaway where he missed the net entirely. Universe giveth, universe taketh. It was still another strong effort for Nichushkin overall.
• Opposite for Andre Burakovsky. He should just burn tonight’s tape and move on. Nothing for him to see here. He’s so much better than he played tonight.
• This one is a tough evaluation of Grubauer for me. The fourth goal, the wraparound in the third period by Jordan Kyrou, was the kind of thing we saw from Grubauer last year during his atrocious winter slump when his A-game went to hibernate. The first goal he never saw and the others he was completely hung out to dry by poor defense or a great shot. The four goals against certainly isn’t a great look when his backup just shut the door on the Flyers and Devils last week. I said last week we still aren’t in goaltender controversy territory yet but I think it will be very telling who plays against Chicago on Wednesday. If Grubauer goes against the Blackhawks and Francouz goes the next night in Carolina, it would seem to suggest the job tilting in Francouz’s favor. If the reverse happens, it’s fair to believe the job is still firmly Grubauer’s going in.
• It’s hard to be too critical but I was hoping for a little more from Nathan MacKinnon tonight. He had an assist and looked like a man possessed in the first period but as the intensity ratcheted up in the third period of what was still a one-goal game, MacKinnon didn’t do much to separate himself. That’s certainly not the norm for him so this is the only the slightest of criticisms.
• Harsher things can be said for Gabe Landeskog, whose game still looks very rusty but he’s been back in the lineup for 11 days now. It’s time to see the Landeskog we’re accustomed to and not just the flashes. I think we’re due for one of those one goal, two assist nights where he physically hammers an opposing player or two and plays reliable defense while generating quality offense. Just feels like time.
• The defense got away with iffy efforts last week against Calgary, Philadelphia, and New Jersey. That’s two potential playoff teams and a bottom-feeder so it wasn’t like the teams were terrible but this was a different level. In a playoff atmosphere (as much as one gets in December, anyway), this group didn’t elevate. Obviously, they’re missing Johnson and Makar so it’s a compromised unit but after weeks of reliable defensive play, we saw steps back from both Ryan Graves and Nikita Zadorov tonight. Sam Girard picked up a power play assist but allowed himself to get overwhelmed a little too frequently by the ferocious forecheck of the Blues. The Avalanche defense needs to find a way to step it up while those guys are out. It doesn’t have to be sexy but it definitely has to be more effective than it was tonight. Way too loose with the puck as a group as everyone had their struggles with puck management.
• I don’t really know what to do about the PK at this point. It’s bad and it has been bad for weeks. I’m just not sure where to go from here. It’s never purely one thing so it’s not as easy as firing a coach (which wouldn’t happen anyway) or trading for another defensive defenseman (which the Avs already have plenty of). I’m at a loss on this one so I guess I’ll just hope things get better because I don’t have any suggestions here.
• In an oddity, the Avs came into both games against the Blues this season on 8-0-1 runs before losing in regulation. Their last loss to the Blues triggered a six-game stretch in which the Avs went 1-4-1. Let’s see how Colorado bounces back this time.