Avalanche point streak extends to 15 games with another win over Minnesota

Have I mentioned I’m not even sure what to say during this comically long Avalanche point streak? After extending it to 15 games (13-0-2) with a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Wild, the Avs are inching closer to clinching a playoff spot with 18 games remaining and an 18-point lead on the fifth-place San Jose Sharks.

The Avs moved to 5-1-1 on the season series against the Wild with their eighth and final game against each other scheduled for Wednesday night. After the Avs ended the Wild’s 11-game home winning streak, you can bet they will be eager to end Colorado’s 15-game point streak.

The real question is if they can do anything about it?

Minnesota had a perfect first period, outplaying the Avalanche up and down the ice and walking out with a 1-0 lead and 11-6 advantage in shots on goal.

Colorado’s response was to bury the Wild in, well, an avalanche of offense. 20 shots on goal (versus just five against) led to four goals and a game the Wild were in control of they were suddenly getting blown out in.

Credit to Minnesota for capitalizing on an extremely busy night for the officials as they enjoyed six power plays (Colorado had three, one of which they scored one) and scored on two of them, both in the third period, to bring the deficit to a more palatable one-goal loss versus the beating they were receiving for much of the second half of the game.

The real question for the Wild, who were fresh off sweeping the Vegas Golden Knights over the weekend, is how they attack an Avs team that has dominated them across this entire season?

What more can the Wild ask for to beat the Avs in regulation than a game where Philipp Grubauer has his worst game (four goals against and a .840 save percentage) since March 1 and the Wild score multiple goals on the power play, something they had yet to accomplish all season until tonight?

In all, I think tonight can best be summed up with one tweet:

The Colorado Avalanche are 13-0-2 in their last 15 games and have outscored their opponents 62-24 lol

— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) April 6, 2021

An absolute buzzsaw.

TAKEAWAYS

• I said this on the podcast but I’ll repeat here for the non-listeners. I thought this was Grubauer’s worst game in a while but also one where he got a little unlucky along the way. That’s the perfect combination for him giving up four goals, which he hadn’t done since a 6-2 loss to San Jose back on March 1, but the team around him lifted him up and gave him the goal support necessary to get the win anyway. His numbers will take a hit but he’s been playing at such a high level so consistently that it was inevitable he would have a down game. He has only had sub-.900 save % games twice in a row once this year, both losses against Vegas and Minnesota in late February. That suggests a decent chance at a bounceback performance on Wednesday night. If the Avs get that, they’re going to be a tough beat.
• 5-1-1 against the Wild this year…remember when Minnesota had Colorado’s number? They might be headed to another playoff matchup as the Wild have been very good against Vegas this year and right now that would be the 2-3 matchup out West. That would be fun, right? Winner advances to the final four in the NHL.
• One thing I continue finding interesting: Star players struggling badly against the Avalanche. Here’s every leading scorer of the West Division teams against the Avs this year. Only Kopitar is feeling fine throughout the series.
  Mark Stone (VGK): two assists in six games
  Conor Garland (ARZ): one goal, one assist in six games
  Kirill Kaprizov (MIN): one goal, three assists in seven games
  Max Comtois (ANA): one goal, one assist in six games
  Evander Kane (SJ): one goal, two assists in four games (all points came in one game)
  Anze Kopitar (LAK) : zero goals, five assists in four games
  David Perron (STL): one goal, two assists in four games
• Not a complaint on the officiating tonight because I thought Colorado earned their penalties. That Graves penalty in the final two minutes is just brutal. Awful decision-making and from a player known for his high hockey IQ it’s just an unacceptable mistake. He’s only on the ice in that situation because the coaching staff trusts him in the role of closing out games. He’s normally good in that job but this was obviously not a good night.
• Devon Toews on the ice for nearly 30 minutes is a problem. The staff doesn’t need to burning these guys out halfway through the regular season. Keep the legs fresh for the stretch run and postseason. Why is this extreme split in ice time suddenly happening? Jacob MacDonald is definitely taking some steps back but 10 minutes? Dropping Dan Renouf to give Kyle Burroughs six minutes of ice? When you consider the second half of this game was played with Colorado holding a multi-goal lead, what is the desire to lean so heavily on the top guys? Is this Jared Bednar just taking the Ferrari out for a test drive to see how it responds to some stress testing?
• Final point of contention on an otherwise very good evening for the Avalanche: Why put the top line on the ice for the final faceoff? Minnesota used it as a chance to put some nonsense on the ice and start shenanigans at the buzzer and that’s exactly what happened. A very minor nitpick here because the Wild have last change and the Avs just default to putting their big guns on the ice in most situations but that seemed like the Wild wanted to ‘send a message’ that they won’t be pushed around or something. Given Burroughs beat the crap out of Nick Bjugstad in an actual fight and the Avs are 5-1-1 against the Wild, I’m not sure Colorado was taking Matt Dumba & Co.’s message very seriously.
• A note here: I reported last week the Avs had agreed to terms with Nate Clurman on a two-year ELC and he would be reporting to the Eagles on an ATO. That became official today as Clurman, the captain of Notre Dame last year, turns pro and becomes just the second Colorado-born player drafted and signed by the Avs. J.D. Corbin was the first. Clurman will report to the Eagles immediately and give the Avs exactly two prospects on that blueline this year to go along with Conor Timmins (I’m not sure where Josh Anderson is so I’m not counting him). Clurman is an intriguing defensive defenseman with a jack-of-all-trades skillset. I’ve always liked his game so I’m curious to see how he translates to the AHL.
• Nathan MacKinnon and Sam Girard sure are fun to watch when they’re playing at their best. Girard’s second period was one of his best of the season and a very good reminder of why he’s a darkhorse Norris candidate this season.