Avalanche respond to tough St. Louis loss with an easy dismissal of Chicago

Responding to adversity is one of those things that separates the good from the elite in the NHL. It’s why the Avalanche has been showered with positive accolades so far this season.

Few teams have faced the kind of injury issues, especially to key players, like Colorado did early on and it shows.

When Colorado lost to St. Louis two days ago, it could have been the thing to put them in an emotional spiral. In previous years, it definitely would have.

But quietly this team has become battle-tested. Three rounds of playoff action in two years will teach a team about momentum and how to respond to a tough loss.

While the loss to the Blues was no doubt a bitter disappointment, the world moves on. The sun came up again today and the schedule presented the Avs another opportunity to get back on the right side of the win column.

That the schedule gave them the last-place Chicago Blackhawks was a small gift from the NHL schedule-makers.

The Avs took care of business and didn’t mess around with a bad Blackhawks team in a pretty easy 4-1 win that spent plenty of time in doubt on the scoreboard but was dominated by one team throughout.

Colorado rocked out to a 19-6 shot advantage in the first period but only got a goal from Ian Cole and watched Ryan Carpenter tie it minutes later.

That level of domination and to be tied after the period is certainly a disappointment but through seven periods against Chicago, there’s been no doubt about which is the better team.

In the second period, that better team put up the results it was trying so hard for in the first and while Colorado’s process wasn’t as special, Nathan MacKinnon and Andre Burakovsky flexed the “special shot” muscles to give the Avs a 3-1 lead.

Both shots were perfect snipes and utterly deflating for a Chicago team being propped up by the excellent goaltending of Corey Crawford.

With a two-goal lead in the third period, Colorado put the clamps on a Chicago comeback attempt and the only cause for concern was a Dylan Strome shot that deflected off Cole and then hit Pavel Francouz and the post before bouncing away.

Things got chippy when Sam Girard laid out Alex DeBrincat with a borderline hit that caused DeBrincat to go hard into the boards and stay down for a minute. Girard then took an angry retaliation hit from Erik Gustafsson after the whistle, drawing a penalty and continuing the world’s smallest rivalry (Girard v. DeBrincat).

A Mikko Rantanen empty-net goal right after Crawford had been pulled iced the game and gave the Avs a relatively simple 4-1 win.

It’s the kind of win you expect a top-tier team to put up against a bottom-feeder but Colorado hasn’t been considered that long enough to know how they’d react in these spots.

So far this year, the Avs are 4-1 in games against the teams currently in the bottom five of the league. The only loss was to Anaheim, who weirdly still seem to have their number.

Colorado finishes the season series against Chicago on Saturday night and has a chance to sweep the Blackhawks.

GAME TAKEAWAYS

• This was one of those games where things were mostly as you expected. The top line helped generate three goals, the depth chewed up Chicago’s depth, and Francouz shut the door.
• Nathan MacKinnon is seriously on another level this season. The production is obviously elite but his process is incredible to watch. Duncan Keith is headed to the Hall of Fame someday and he got the best of MacKinnon a time or two tonight but MacKinnon also had several moments where he chewed Keith up and disregarded his existence. That’s the stuff that stands out as so special from 29. His goal was pure hockey porn, from bouncing the puck off his skate at top speed in the neutral zone to the placement of the shot. It was such a laser, I had to wait for a replay to see exactly what had happened.
• Burakovsky’s goal was similar and it was really a backbreaker for the Blackhawks. Avs fans should be very familiar with the kind of game they saw tonight; it’s just the Avs used to be on the other end all the time, especially against Chicago. The Blackhawks got great goaltending to keep them in it and eventually Colorado’s skill level won them the game with enough chances and eventually the pushback from the underdog withered away and the better team took two points. Burakovsky’s goal let the air out of the United Center and there was no real looking back from that point.
• Cole’s goal certainly was a nice shot from the point that found its way past a screened Crawford but it was that Cole shot it at all that was good. Quietly, he’s played with a lot more confidence on offense than we saw from him last year and tonight’s goal was a good example. At times last year, Cole would have rimmed that puck or intentionally shot it a foot wide of the net in hopes of the perfect deflection. Instead, he just threw it at the net and forced the goaltender to do something about it. Crawford failed to do so and the Avs got their second goal of the season from Cole. He added an assist later and is up to 14 points on the year, good for second-best on the team. That’s obviously a major surprise but also very encouraging. It takes a village to replace star production and without Cale Makar, we’ve seen Cole and Ryan Graves step it up offensively.
• Hell, Anton Lindholm had an assist tonight in his first game of the season. Lindholm also played some physical defense in the neutral zone and the eye test didn’t see anything wrong with Lindholm’s play on the whole. If they get Erik Johnson back this week, that’s great for the Avs. If this ends up being Lindholm’s only appearance of the season, he certainly did not embarrass himself.
• Francouz – another night, another excellent showing. I’m still saying there’s no goalie controversy yet because Francouz has enjoyed a strong run of form against some teams that aren’t very good (Chicago twice, New Jersey, Columbus) and he did well in relief in Boston but only faced 16 shots in nearly a full game’s worth of work. This isn’t to say Francouz has had it ‘easy’ as he’s beaten some good teams, too, (Philadelphia, Montreal, Tampa Bay) but he’s also gotten excellent goal support along the way. All of this is just to say – Frankie might be one of the five best backups in the NHL right now and that’s a major weapon for the Avs. They are okay where they are for now and until Grubauer REALLY falters, I don’t think the temptation to swap places is quite there yet. But we talk about it every game so clearly it’s getting closer.
• Fun fact: Erik Gustafsson was one of Gabe Landeskog’s groomsmen.
• Also fun: The Avs now lead the NHL in goal differential at +31. Next closest in the west is Arizona at +14.