The Avs are back home after a three-game road trip that saw an abundance of success both in Southern California and in Texas against a division rival.
As far as housekeeping notes go, the biggest one of note is Gabe Landeskog.
The Avs’ captain took a shot from Cale Makar in the cup area toward the end of the Dallas game on Friday night. He finished the game, but per team sources, stayed overnight in Dallas due to a “scrotum injury.”
It was announced by Avs PR before the game today that Landeskog would not play and that he would be out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
“It’s lower-body, not a comfortable one,” Coach Jared Bednar said following the game. “That’s the time frame the doctor gave us.”
Scott Wedgewood got his second start in two games today, playing opposite Minnesota‘s Jesper Wallstedt.
A few weeks ago, Bednar made it pretty clear that Mackenzie Blackwood would be their guy for the rest of the year, and that Wedgewood’s starts were pretty much scheduled from here on out. After each of their performances in the last game against Dallas, I imagine Bednar and his staff may be giving that decision a second look.
The first goal didn’t come until the second period, despite the Avs putting up 14 shots on Jesper Wallstedt in the first. Nazem Kadri collects his first point in his first game back with the Avalanche, allowing Nathan MacKinnon to break the ice, so to speak, with a pass behind the net off a Wild turnover.
Minnesota found the lead with two goals within the first ten minutes of the third period, thanks to Kirill Kaprizov and former Av Nico Sturm. Nicolas Roy tips a Brett Kulak shot past Wallstedt to tie things up and force overtime.
No one gets things done in the five minutes of three-on-three (or the four-on-three chance the Wild got at the end due to a MacKinnon penalty).
Both goaltenders came up huge, stopping two out of three shots faced during the first three rounds of the shootout, but in a very full-circle fashion, MacKinnon started off the scoring; it seemed only fitting that his shootout goal was the one to end it. Avs win this one 4-3 in the shootout.
Martin Necas hit the half-century mark in games
500 games. That’s a milestone most NHLers hit, but it seems extra special to hit this year, given what’s ahead for the Czech forward as a member of the Colorado Avalanche.
Only 89 of them have been played with the Avalanche, but he’s set to play over 650 games in Denver across the next eight years thanks to the hefty contract he just signed a few months ago.
The Nathan MacKinnon effect
Per the NHL Live Updates page: “Nazem Kadri collected an assist on Nathan MacKinnon’s opening goal in his first game back with the Avalanche after skating with Colorado from 2019-20 to 2021-22. Kadri and MacKinnon combined on 24 goals in his first stint with Colorado. It also marked Kadri’s first point in an Avalanche uniform since Game 4 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final when he scored in overtime. “
24 goals, including tonight’s.
Many players have talked about the impact that getting Kadri back in the room will provide, but to connect on that many goals over a three – now four – season span is incredibly special.
We’ve seen what playing next to MacKinnon can do for a guy like Necas’ career, but Coach Bednar made it very clear that while Kadri is here, he wants him playing next to the top guys, especially while Landeskog is out.
“I thought I’d start him and put him with MacK and Marty and see how it looked, and I liked the way it looked. I thought they were dangerous right from the get-go at the start of the game and created a lot of dangerous scoring chances, so I thought I’d leave them together,” Bednar said of the line of Necas – MacKinnon – Kadri during his postgame presser. “I want him to play with our top-end guys, and in order to do that for me, he’s got to play in the wing right now.”
