Avalanche stars light up Tampa Bay in thrilling shootout victory

When the regular season starts and the games start to count, we often get so caught up in the day-to-day minutiae of everything that we occasionally forget some of the bigger picture stuff along the way.

As the Avs started 1-3 and played some pretty ghastly hockey along the way, it was easy to forget that every team outside the one they smoked on opening night was a playoff team last year and carried high expectations coming into this season, too.

I won’t rehash how step-by-step how Colorado got to tonight, but the reality is at 1-3 that the Avs really needed to start winning and putting points in the standings. Their goal is right about 12 points for every 10 games, which puts them on pace for about 98 points if they accomplish it. After four games, two points just weren’t good enough, regardless of the quality of competition.

The three-game losing streak came to an end in the ultimate game of inches as the Avalanche topped the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 4-3 shootout victory.

Colorado held leads of 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 as the Lightning clawed back each time and forced the extra session. When overtime solved nothing, the Avalanche found themselves in the shootout, something they’ve done just seven times in the last three seasons combined.

Let’s start there.

We talked on the postgame podcast following the team’s loss to Florida two days ago about how it was a simple formula the Avs had to get back to. Their best players had to lead and set the tone.

After scoring all three goals during regulation, they each got looks in overtime but nothing ended it.

In the shootout, Nathan MacKinnon was the only member of the vaunted top line to not score as the adventure went six rounds instead of the normal three. Needing an answer, Cale Makar stepped up and provided the signature moment of the night as he beat Andrei Vaslievskiy with a sneaky wrister through the five-hole as Vasilevskiy went for the poke check and opened up the wickets.

Makar, who had two assists during regulation, scored on the first shootout attempt of his career.

If that isn’t your best players leading, I don’t know what more they could possibly do.

This battle between two of the league’s most electric offenses in recent years ended with a box score filled by the stars of the game. Goals from MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Gabe Landeskog, Brayden Point and Steven Stamkos drove home that this was a heavyweight bout, despite what the records of the two teams might have been coming in.

That’s where we kind of lost the plot in the run-up to this game. At least, I did, anyway. I got hyperfocused on the 1-3 start and didn’t think too much of Tampa Bay the opponent.

At times, they tried to bully the Avalanche, notably Pat Maroon targeting Bowen Byram specifically as the Lightning tried to get under Colorado’s skin. The plan seemed to backfire as the Avalanche received six power plays on the night and had that unit been firing on more cylinders, a shootout very likely never comes close to happening.

It was an interesting watch, though, especially when looking back on the game with a little time to digest all that happened. This is a proud Lightning team that has won the last two Stanley Cups and is facing a slow start of their own as they’ve taken serious hits to both forward and defense thanks to salary cap constraints. They’re still among the most talented and dangerous teams in the league and we saw both what makes them special and what they’ve so far lacked this year in tonight’s contest.

It was an excellent measuring stick for an Avalanche club that was on the precipice of a full-blown identity crisis. Landeskog, in particular, has shown zero willingness to take any nonsense from opposing teams this season and that attitude seems to be taking root with some of the other guys on the club.

The Avalanche didn’t back down from Tampa Bay tonight and while they also failed to protect a third-period lead and put the Lightning away, they ultimately prevailed in a pretty thrilling hockey game.

What does it all mean? As the fifth game of the season, not too much, but not nothing, either. More than anything, it felt like the kind of win a team uses as a building block to the kind of run that reminds everyone why they are expected to be a tough out every night.

TAKEAWAYS

• I haven’t mentioned him yet anywhere above but I want to make sure I give Darcy Kuemper props here. He has already seen some ups and downs this season but he was awesome in overtime, in particular, but came up with a number of big saves tonight. The first two goals were nonsense goals that I won’t put on him but the Point goal late in the third period to tie it up came on Kuemper’s blocker side, where he has consistently been beaten quite a bit already this year. It’s something to watch as we move on but other than that, I loved the way he battled tonight. That competitiveness is infectious and is something the Avs need a little more of throughout their lineup still.
• The stars were awesome tonight, especially MacKinnon. The two plays that really stood out to me the most from MacKinnon both came in overtime and both were defensive efforts. The first, he skated hard on a backcheck and got a stick on the puck to strip the puck carrier of a scoring opportunity and then went and retrieved it in the corner. The second one was even more impressive as MacKinnon read the ice and put himself in prime shot-blocking territory. He got his body in front of the puck right in the slot and pushed the play the other way. What I didn’t love is MacKinnon seems to still turn his brain off in overtime, where he skated right into all three Lightning skaters after blocking that shot and immediately gave possession right back to them. That’s the kind of mistake that has cost them so, so many times in overtime the last few years. He has to be smarter but that’s a nitpick on what was otherwise a great showing from him in the extra session. That’s what leadership looks like.
• Byram, my goodness. He snagged an assist on Colorado’s first goal and is leading the Avs defense in scoring through five games with his four points (1g, 3a). While he was negative in corsi (13-16 at even strength) tonight, he was positive in the scoring chances department (8-5 at even strength). Most of the damage was done when he was paired with Makar, who continues to struggle in that area despite the production he put up tonight. Byram and Erik Johnson continue to work a little magic as Johnson is quietly living up to the expectation that he be the stabilizing force on a defense that is big on talent but also big on variance from game to game. Ahhh, the elixir of youth. Byram’s intangibles, however, jump off the ice in obvious ways. His competitiveness and self-confidence are the marks of a future star. He has the heart of a lovable role player but the talent of an All-Star, the kind of combination teams lust after on draft day. It’s still early but this is the beast they hoped they were drafting fourth overall back in 2019 and all of that tantalizing potential is slowly being realized. Easy to say after a good night, of course, but we’ve seen a level of polish through five games that young defensemen, in particular, rarely possess and his willingness to get dirty in his own end and work is something this group absolutely needed. He’s miserable to play against and guys like Maroon are stepping up to learn all about it firsthand right now.
• Only the quickest of notes about officiating: After the standard set with Gabe Landeskog, everyone in Colorado is going to be closely watching the Department of Player Safety to see what it has to say about Stamkos very clearly boarding Sam Girard in overtime. There’s an argument to be made that Girard puts himself in a vulnerable position but that didn’t seem to matter even slightly when Kirby Dach did the same thing and Landeskog rocked him. It’s something to keep an eye on tomorrow as you enjoy a Broncos-less Sunday.
• He had a brutal night but the team sending Mikhail Maltsev back to the AHL while they were still on the flight back to Denver seems a little overenthusiastic to me. I thought Maltsev was fine against the Panthers but there’s no doubt his play tonight, which helped create two Tampa Bay goals, was the stuff of nightmares. Seems an awfully quick trigger to me.
• Tyson Jost should be in between Darren Helm and Logan O’Connor. Period, end of lineup shuffling. Whatever they’re going to do from here they’re going to do, but that trio should be stapled together. The Avs need stability at forward and having the three-headed monster back is a great start but these three have shown chemistry and are working very well together. Just make them the third line while they keep figuring out how to get by without Val Nichushkin.