Avalanche slay demons behind star power

ST. LOUIS – As Nathan MacKinnon’s incredible season has unfolded, there’s been a rush to find an appropriate nickname for him along the way. “Nate the Great”? “Great Nate”?

Sports are always good for cliches so why not rock dramatic and easy with “Dragon Slayer”?

Regardless of your preference, there’s no arguing MacKinnon’s status as an elite player who has put the Avalanche on his back as they go hunting for a spot in the playoffs.

Entering the night as the second wild card in the Western Conference, the Avalanche didn’t have much room to work with as they went into St. Louis to take on the Blues. To say this has been a traditional house of horrors (oh, those cliches!) would be an understatement.

With the way the Avs came out early on, it looked like it would be another trouncing at the hands of St. Louis after the depleted Blues jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead in shots on goal and got their first power play chance in the first five minutes.

Nothing was doing, however, as Semyon Varlamov stood tall and kept his team in it as they once again weathered an early storm on the road. The response was quick, however, as Colorado’s top line bounced the puck around until it found its way to MacKinnon, who snapped a quick wrist shot that appeared to catch Jake Allen off guard and put Colorado up 1-0 at the 10:11 mark.

Not content there, MacKinnon scored again just under three minutes later as the top line once again worked the puck around the offensive zone, this time resulting in a Tyson Barrie shot that was deflected and happened to last right on MacKinnon’s stick. He put the puck into the empty net and Colorado took its good fortune into the first intermission with a two-goal lead, exactly the kind of start they were going to need in order to exorcise the demon of winning in St. Louis.

The second period didn’t go quite as smoothly for the Avalanche as the Blues continued their shot onslaught and finally broke through against Varlamov. Joel Edmundson, playing in his first game since breaking his arm against the Avs earlier in the year, was able to sneak a puck from the blueline through an array of bodies and past Varlamov, making it 2-1 and giving the lethargic Scottrade Center a large jolt of energy.

The Blues feasted on that energy for several more minutes, continuing to tilt the ice and pepper Varlamov with shots but the Russian netminder would not relent. Russian machine never breaks, remember? Well, other guys do break and this time it was the Blues on a bad line change.

Gabe Landeskog made a perfect stretch pass to Mikko Rantanen, who had taken up residence along the St. Louis blue line while the Blues were changing. Rantanen gathered the puck in, broke in with Vince Dunn chasing him and put a gorgeous backhand top shelf above Jake Allen and just like that it was 3-1 with 3:31 left in the second period.

Colorado would maintain their lead into the start of the third despite having to kill off 59 seconds of a too-many-men penalty to begin the frame. They successfully killed the penalty and got to even strength.

It appeared the Blues were going to tie the game when Vladimir Tarasenko had to backhand the puck about two feet into an empty net but that wasn’t meant to be and the game continued into the third period with Colorado maintaining it’s two-goal advantage.

Despite a non-stop barrage of shots on goal, the Avalanche held the Blues off in a period-long surge, getting outshot 22-6. And yet, it just didn’t matter as the top line once again combined to make a play and Rantanen scored into the vacated Blues net with 42 seconds remaining to make it 4-1 and ice the game.

Colorado finished their two-game road trip in two cities that have haunted them for years with a combined 9-2 scoreline. While it didn’t always feel that dominant, the end result is the Avalanche are playing at a high level.

What started as the Nathan MacKinnon Show ended up being all about Semyon Varlamov with a handful of other players mixed into the middle. A true team performance.

The Avs head home tomorrow to face another demon, maybe their ultimate demon, in the form of the Nashville Predators, who have beaten Colorado nine straight times. After their Buffy-esque road trip, all I have to say is:

Good luck with that, Predators.