Avalanche show the kind of fight they've too often been lacking

How did the Colorado Avalanche respond to their disheartening shutout loss to the Vancouver Canucks two nights ago? At first, poorly. The Avs came out flat against the Calgary Flames tonight and found themselves behind early before finding their gear and, in the words of Cole Trickle, dropping the hammer in a 4-2 victory.

Two early penalties in quick succession put the Flames on an extended 5v3 and Calgary forward Jonathan Huberdeau, who has rediscovered the scoring touch that mysteriously eluded him last year, used the screen in front of Avs goalie Mackenzie Blackwood to pick a corner to make it 1-0, Flames.

The Avs actually got a tying goal near the end of the first period when Sam Malinski made a wicked outlet pass to Casey Mittelstadt. Mittelstadt entered the zone, dropped it to Jonathan Drouin, who dropped it to the trailing Malinski and he went bar down to make it 1-1.

Except it was called back for offside as Drouin was so blatantly offside that it’s incredible the play was allowed to continue at all. Even Matt Duchene would have thought that was a bad missed offside call.

From there, the Avs blew the doors off the Flames and smoked them. We’ll save the good stuff for below, so let’s talk about it.

That was the pushback the Avs needed

Something had to be different. It just needed a change. I know the Avs had consecutive shutouts over the weekend, but it was the first time since 2025 began that they had won two straight games. The inconsistency has been maddening and a major reason why they are still within contact with the teams chasing them in the Wild Card standings.

That inconsistency was perfectly encapsulated in Tuesday’s loss against the Canucks. They started out absolutely on fire and were burying the Canucks in scoring chances and posts hit. They never converted, Vancouver found their game, and they got shutout as their offense was too stubborn to adapt to how it was being defended.

The emotional meltdown late in the game made it feel like the kind of loss that could be a turning point of the negative kind, one we might look back if the Avs missed the playoffs and say, “This is where the slide really began.”

During the first period when just about every Av who was touching the puck was turning it over and creating a scoring chance for the Flames, it felt awful. Malinski’s goal being wiped off the board felt like something bad was building.

Then the second period started.

Cale Makar scored, then Artturi Lehkonen scored, then Martin Necas scored. The Avs built a 19-4 advantage in shot attempts during 12:51 of 5v5 time. Scoring chances were 10-1 and high-danger chances were 5-0. They were absolutely excellent in all phases except not taking penalties, where they took two more to follow up their three-penalty first period.

It didn’t matter, though, because the Avs killed every 4v5 situation they were in, allowing only the Huberdeau goal on Calgary’s 5v3. Everything was clicking. The Avs power play looked dangerous, then scored.

The third period was uneventful and Necas scored again. Rasmus Andersson scored one that helped my fantasy hockey team (sorry, Enrique!) but ultimately didn’t mean anything else in the game.

It was an excellent response. The Avs didn’t get down on themselves, they didn’t pout. They busted out the lunch pail and went to work. All four lines had strong shot metrics through two periods. The only one (shock incoming) that struggled in the third period was Mittelstadt’s line and in that situation, I don’t even really care.

With no Josh Manson because of injury and no Keaton Middleton because of his play last game, Calvin de Haan and Oliver Kylington slotted in. Both had horrible first periods, then settled into low-event, no-danger hockey. That’s exactly what the Avs needed from their third pairing after a few weeks of some wild variance.

They need to continue it tomorrow in Edmonton, but this was a nice reprieve from the game-long frustrations that we’ve seen. Malinski playing up a pairing next to Sam Girard had his best game in about six weeks. He was great, legitimately great.

This was an Avalanche team that looked completely different from the one that went quietly into the Vancouver night. That’s inconsistency for you, but these types of performances are what make their poor runs of form so frustrating. The good stuff is in there.

Martin Necas is the perfect Av

And holy smokes is the good stuff ever in Marty Necas. This guy is something else, eh? We talked in the aftermath of the trade that Necas could push Rantanen in the scoring department because he will be playing alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Rantanen will not.

With two goals and an assist tonight, Necas is up to eight points in seven games with the Avs while Rantanen is stuck on two points in six games for the Hurricanes. I don’t care about the Rantanen part for the rest of this piece, but I do care about Necas.

His fit alongside MacKinnon was obvious from the instant they were on the ice together. Their speed together created a dynamic that MacKinnon has never had in his career before. As great as Rantanen is, he was never a burner the way Necas is. Combine that speed with the puck skill Necas possesses, and they are absolutely shredding teams together.

That they were shutout in Vancouver was a crime against humanity and violated the rule of cool, but they got it back tonight. They were unstoppable together. With them on the ice together at 5v5, the Avs outshot the Flames, 16-5, put up 11 scoring chances and five high-danger chances, and scored two goals.

Necas also added a goal without MacKinnon and the two combined for Colorado’s power-play goal. All told, that’s a dominant evening for Colorado’s top line. This sounds like an awfully familiar story, doesn’t it?

Anyway, Necas moved into a tie with Jack Hughes for 10th in the NHL in scoring this year. So, you know, not too shabby.

Mackenzie Blackwood, the Steady Yeti

I always love the stuff my man Rudo comes up with, but when he started calling Blackwood the “Steady Yeti” it just felt so perfect to me. Tonight was a great example of why.

Blackwood stopped 27 of 29 shots and was, well, steady. He rarely does the spectacular because he makes the difficult look look so routine. He was unflappable when the Avs skaters in front of him were turning pucks over like crazy.

Blackwood was there, standing tall, which he always does. Because he’s tall. Thus, the Yeti. The hair helps, too.

Anyway, Blackwood was excellent behind what turned into an excellent defensive performance once the final buzzer sounded. It would have been better had Blackwood not allowed the late goal to Andersson, but again, it ended up ultimately pretty irrelevant (and it really did help my fantasy team, so thanks).

This was the Colorado formula working. MacKinnon’s line destroys the opposition, scores multiple goals, the Avs break even on special teams, tilt the ice, use their skating advantage to wear down the opponent, get quality goaltending, and let their skill win the day.

Yahtzee.