Avalanche survive wild 4-3 win over Sharks

When your top line generates 23 shots on goal and scores three goals, you had better walk out of the contest with two points. The Avalanche did exactly that tonight as they secured a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks that has a final score much closer than the on-ice action would suggest.

To put it mildly, this was a clown show. Imagine all of the weird bounces you can conjure up off the top of your – pucks popping a goaltender’s helmet off as the team is scoring, a puck that hits a post and then hits the knob of the goaltender’s stick and clangs around without going in, bad bounces of pucks with nobody around that come out of nowhere and create breakaways because it hops over a stick.

Start there, add a few more wild ones in there and toss in a perfectly controversial goaltender interference challenge that did not work and you have a feel for how tonight’s game played out.

Throughout, the Avs dominated the puck and shot share and watched as Josef Korenar made a combination of great saves and was on the receiving end of over-the-top good fortune along the way.

It was a roller coaster of a night in both nets as Devan Dubnyk gave up the predictably soft goal but then was on the receiving end of a short-handed breakaway from Evander Kane, which he stopped, and then Kane skated through his leg pads and pulled Dubnyk out of the net as Logan Couture smashed home the rebound into the space vacated by Dubnyk via Kane’s skate.

Truly, you know the league has a goaltender interference problem when so many people who have spent their entire lives watching hockey saw the same replay and, some with great confidence, came to the exact opposite conclusions.

Some people said of course that’s goaltender interference, look at Kane’s skate pulling Dubnyk out of his net. Others mentioned Dubnyk going for the poke check and getting his stick caught in Kane’s legs as the reason his momentum was taking him out of the net.

Everyone believed themselves to be right, of course. The only people who didn’t think they were right were the people like me who genuinely don’t have a feel for what goaltender interference even is anymore.

Regardless, the puck that bounced over Cale Makar’s stick and turned into the goal that cut Colorado’s lead to 3-2 counted and the power play the Avs were on was wiped out because of the incorrect result on the ensuing goaltender interference challenge.

Dubnyk’s wild night continued late in the third period as the Avs were trying to protect what was then a 4-2 lead and a Brent Burns shot hit the stick of Devon Toews and deflected into the arm of Tomas Hertl. From Hertl’s arm, it vaulted over Dubnyk’s shoulder and into the net to make it 4-3.

It was the exact kind of goal this game that made no sense was deserving of to push the game over the 6.5 over/under coming into the night.

In the end, the Avs dominated the game and some goofy things went San Jose’s way to keep it close but Colorado walked out with a pretty easy two points all things considered.

For fun, some charts and stuff.

TAKEAWAYS

• This was just the weirdest game I could recall watching this year. SO many things happened on both sides of the ice that were wild/weird. There were some scoring chances that just disappeared into thin air. Where did the puck go? What happened? Everyone involved seemed confused. It was just the strangest of games. I don’t even really know how else to describe it. You’re accustomed to seeing funny bounces in hockey because of the combination of ice and the goofy shape of the puck but so many weird ones in one game? Wild night at Ball Arena.
• I really didn’t have an issue with Dubnyk’s game tonight. The third goal is just a junk goal that happens when the universe does not have your back. The second goal…look, he stops the breakaway from Kane. Where is the backchecking help?? Why is Dubnyk required to stop two shooters in alone? Might have been the only time I could legitimately say it was a lazy effort from the guys in front of Dubnyk. Hell, even San Jose’s first goal was the result of Hertl whiffing on an attempt to stuff the puck in as he transitioned across the goalmouth. Dubnyk was a touch slow getting post-to-post and that’s where you can easily lob some criticism of the Barabanov goal but even that came with a caveat. The numbers aren’t great but this was a much better overall showing than his fiasco against Vegas earlier in the week.
• Sam Girard and Ryan Graves are out for the immediate future, meaning the defense consisting of Patrick Nemeth, Conor Timmins, Dan Renouf, and Kyle Burroughs is both subject to more changes as the coaching staff rotates out Renouf and/or Burroughs as they see fit but also that group is here to stay. Girard is out for approximately two weeks and Graves is “day-to-day” with Jared Bednar leaving open the possibility that his condition could worsen over time. We will see. It sounds like the Avs might have dodged a major bullet with both players (hopefully) avoiding long-term injuries.
• That defense scored five points tonight. Lol. Conor Timmins with the first multi-point game of his career and made two great plays on each goal. His one-touch pass to MacKinnon for Colorado’s first goal was a perfect pass. It couldn’t have been better. It was absolutely perfect. Watching it in slow motion gave you an appreciation for what a perfect pass it was. I get the nerdiest of hockey nerd chills when just thinking about it. SO GOOD. Timmins put together another very good game to build off the strong performance last night. You never know when the light bulb is going to go on for guys. We watched it take right around 200 NHL games for Tyson Jost to look comfortable in his own skin in the NHL. Most guys don’t get that kind of leash, mind you, but it goes to show you that you legitimately have to have some patience with young guys in the lineup. It’s why I would encourage people not to give up on Martin Kaut or any other young player that quickly. Of course, these might just end up two good games in an otherwise mediocre season for Timmins, who has often looked timid and afraid of making mistakes. If this is the turning of the corner, it’s at the perfect time.
• The Avs kept pace with Vegas but added another regulation win while Vegas won in overtime. While the points stay at 4, the Avs maintain a game in hand and a head-to-head game next week loom large in the chase for the division title. The first tiebreaker, however, is regulation wins, and the Avs got their 30th tonight while Vegas has just 28. Should this thing end up tied, the Avs currently have that advantage in the first tiebreaker. With Minnesota still in this chase for the division title, it’s worth noting they only have 26 regulation wins. The second tiebreaker is ROW (regulation/overtime wins) and Vegas has a 35-33 advantage on the Avs right now so Colorado continuing to win in regulation is important. Just something to keep an eye on.