The world is saying their season is over, but the Avs' stars don't care

They were down and the world has been telling them they’re out. They just don’t care.

When star defenseman Erik Johnson went down with an injury against the Edmonton Oilers last weekend, the sadness was palpable among the players inside the Colorado Avalanche locker room. They knew. And, unlike the rest of us, they got over it.

Despite going just 1-1-1 on last week’s Western Canada road trip, the Avalanche finally got back home and got to enjoy being in Denver for longer than a day for the first time in over a month. They took full advantage of the cozy surroundings by getting off to a hot start, dominating the pace of play and forcing the visiting Vancouver Canucks into penalties early on as they used their speed to their advantage and put the pressure on.

The dam broke late in the first period when Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen hooked up on a highlight reel goal, one of four goals the line would generate tonight (three actually counted!). It was a familiar story for the Avalanche, who have leaned heavily on their top line for scoring this season. Rantanen’s goal was his 20th of the season and the 68th goal for Colorado’s top trio. With 189 goals scored as a team so far, Colorado’s top line has accounted for 35.9% of the goals scored by the Avalanche this season.

When they needed it most, down four points to the Calgary Flames in the standings for the last spot in the Western Conference playoff race, the Avalanche got their best from their best. MacKinnon led the way with an absurd night of aggression as he took an outrageous 19 shots tonight. Of those, nine were on net and two went in, including his eventual game-winner that gave the Avalanche breathing room early in the third period, pushing them ahead 2-0. His eventual three-point night pushed him to 69 points on the season in just 54 games played.

The win was great. The production was just another day at the office. Given a vote of confidence on this, the NHL’s trade deadline day, by general manager Joe Sakic, who chose not to mess with his NHL roster and let them figure out if they are a playoff team or not, this young roster responded with pushback. It was their first legitimate three-period effort in nearly a month.

And yet, the scene in the locker room after was one of defiance. Colorado’s top trio stayed together and talked to the media as a group as the rest of the team slipped out quietly. This night was about the big guns and everyone knew it.

“I’m not sure where we are after tonight’s win but we definitely need a lot more of those,” MacKinnon said. “You know, it’s going to be a big game against Calgary. It could be a deciding playoff game but we need to win a lot of hockey games to get into the playoffs and it’s so tight in the Western [Conference].”

MacKinnon also touched on the importance of bouncing back after what could only be described as a disappointing road trip.

“We had to rebound after [losses] in Edmonton and Calgary. You know, we knew we have better than what we had on the road trip but I thought we got off to a good start tonight. They had over 30 shots but I thought they were a lot of perimeter and [Colorado G Semyon Varlamov] obviously played great like he always does. We got on the attack, we were aggressive and it worked out.”

Varlamov, whose world-class athleticism once inspired an adoring fan base to lovingly compare his goaltending style to that of a spider monkey, has begun to regularly draw the ire of a fan base that has grown tired of watching him battle groin injuries and consistency issues all too often over his seven-year career in Denver. His teammates, however, have all the confidence in their goaltender and they continue to support him despite another year of ups and downs.

“I think the way Varly played tonight, obviously that gives us a lot of confidence,” captain Gabe Landeskog said of his netminder. “But as a group, I think guys are doing a great job of keeping things to the outside and making sure he sees everything, but he made the big stops when he needed to.”

Varlamov ultimately stopped 31 of 32 shots, only allowing a Daniel Sedin goal with under two minutes remaining in the game to ruin his shutout bid. If the team is going to make a serious run at the postseason, it’s going to be on the back of excellent goaltending from Varlamov as reliable backup Jonathan Bernier continues to recover from a concussion and head coach Jared Bednar seems mortified at the mere idea of playing current backup Andrew Hammond.

The next challenge for the Avalanche will be when the Flames come into town. Calgary rolls into Denver having beaten the Avs in both meetings on the season, including an embarrassing 5-1 beatdown of the Avalanche last week in Calgary. The Avalanche are itching for revenge against a team they’re competing directly with for a playoff spot.

“We have a little payback,” the normally cherubic Rantanen said devilishly. “They won last time they were here too so I think [we are] 0-2 against them this year, so I think it’s time to get a win against those guys. I don’t know if they played today or not but we are battling with them for a wildcard spot so it’s going to be a huge game for us.”

The captain tried to downplay the importance of specifically playing the Flames, instead choosing to embrace the bigger picture.

“It’s important, no doubt,” Landeskog explained. “All games are important for us right now and we can’t really let anything slide for us at this point. It doesn’t matter if your opponent is in or out of a playoff spot, we just need to make sure we take care of business and that’s what we did tonight.”

Take care of business they did as they dispatched a Canucks team playing only for pride at this point. When push comes to shove, it will be interesting to see how much pride this Avalanche group can show down the stretch. The opportunity is there.

Show us all what you’re made of.