Studs

Colorado’s third line

The Miles Wood-Ross Colton-Logan O’Connor trio was great tonight. Hell, I thought they were pretty great (for the most part) in Vegas, too, but the speed and physicality they play with is a total departure from that line’s identity last season and you saw tonight why two of those guys were brought in over the summer.

They got the Avs to their first lead of the night when a blocked shot turned into an odd-man rush the other way and the Devils were too slow to recover defensively. Wood deked a defender, eschewing a pass to O’Connor on the back door, and put a puck on net that was kicked back out to Colton’s stick, who made no mistake and scored.

They played hard, hunted pucks hard, and used their physicality to change the game. Of course, that physicality can be a double-edged sword as we saw with Colton getting tossed from the game and allowing the Devils more than seven straight minutes of power play time (which ultimately was reduced when the Devils took a penalty of their own in the middle of it).

I don’t know what comes next for Colton in terms of any potential suspension because the league is completely unpredictable in that area but for this game, the Avs got away with the rough stuff potentially costing them a game. The hit on Luke Hughes that was initially called on Colton was easily a penalty but getting his stick into Timo Meier’s face is the kind of thing that just did not need to happen. It exacerbated the issue and was the major penalty that got Colton tossed.

Then Wood went out on the penalty kill, not normally a unit he is part of, and scored on a shorthanded breakaway as part of his excellent two-point night against his former team. Hockey.

Colorado’s stars

It’s hard to separate Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar because they are frequently so involved in each other’s production and tonight was different. The trio combined for Colorado’s first and fifth goals with Rantanen also adding the sixth into the empty net.

Three-point nights from Rantanen (2G, 1A) and Makar (3A) and two from MacKinnon (1G, 1A) is just what the doctor ordered as the team’s stars had been at the forefront of the offensive outage in their three shutout losses.

There’s always so much talk about how you “can’t just win with one line” and it’s certainly true, but the Avalanche (and most other NHL teams, for that matter) don’t often win when their best players don’t lead the way. They led the charge tonight and had plenty of help from the rest of the gang but it was the commitment to the details that got them back on top.

When these guys are locked in, they are very difficult to beat. New Jersey is the latest team that can testify to that.

Composure

I dinged the Avs for this during their meltdown in Vegas and tonight I thought it was just the opposite. Colton putting the team in that position was an unacceptable mess. He committed two clear-cut infractions and I’ve got no issues with giving him the gate. Hitting people in the head after the whistle is a no-go.

If anything, their punishment of Colton probably shines a brighter light on what felt like a pretty light call on Dougie Hamilton for an egregious retaliation boarding against Wood a few minutes earlier, but I’m not here defending Colton in this space. He put the Avs in a terrible spot regardless of who wasn’t in New Jersey’s lineup.

The Avs walked into over seven minutes of time on the penalty kill, and an extended 5v3 to start with, and their 2-1 lead became a 3-3 tie on the other side of it. All things considered, that’s fine.

What really impressed me the most was that after the 5v3 goal and the two minutes of 4v4 hockey after Alexander Holtz was called for slapping the stick from the hands of Devon Toews the Avs hunkered down. They gave up another goal on the power play but in the 6:40 of time that the Devils were at 5v4 during the second period, New Jersey managed only three shots on goal. Three!

Scoring chances were 4-1…in favor of the Avalanche. To be honest, the Devils should have considered themselves the lucky ones to walk out of all of that with a tie game because Colorado outplayed them quite a bit in terms of process.

The score being what it was, though, didn’t get the Avalanche down. They accepted the game they were in and smoked New Jersey in the third period behind a dominant defensive effort. Speaking of which…

The defense

All of the stuff that happened in the second period and the Devils managed just 16 shots on goal through two and then got their doors blown off in the third period?

The important caveat is that New Jersey was without Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier and is finishing up a road trip. That context absolutely matters. These were not two full-strength and well-rested teams facing off. The Avs had the advantage and it looked like.

From the start of the second period on, Colorado looked like it was sinking its teeth into the game and starting to really take control of the proceedings. All of the penalties derailed that momentum, but right from the jump in the third period the Avs took hold and never relented.

Once Ryan Johansen put the Avs up 4-3, Colorado smelled blood in the water and removed any doubt that the beaten-up Devils would be able to mount a late-game comeback. The defense tonight was much tighter than we saw in Vegas and there were very few freebies given by the Avs.

Over the last two periods, Colorado allowed just 11 shots on goal at even strength. The teamwide commitment to that part of the ice always means good things for the Avalanche and the two points the Avs earned tonight speak to that.

Duds

Ross Colton’s penalty parade

I call it a parade but it was seven minutes of penalties at the same time as he was called for Boarding Luke Hughes (it was really Interference to me but whatever) and then the Cross-Check to Meier’s head.

If you watch the corner angle of Colton’s hit on Hughes, especially at full speed, it looks like a terrible hit on a player right in his numbers. There’s a reverse angle that shows the contact is a lot more shoulder-on-shoulder and not quite as bad as it originally appeared. To me, it’s still very clearly a penalty. It’s an illegal check no matter how you slice it.

I do think Hughes has to do a better job of bracing for contact because he’s in a footrace to a puck along the boards and he knows Colton is there. It’s on Hughes to know that he’s going to take contact soon. It’s very much on Colton to make a legal check, however, and then not follow it up with what happened with Meier.

Both Meier and Colton go to engage after the hit on Hughes and both get hands up, but Colton catches Meier in the face. That’s a penalty. You’re not allowed to hit guys in the head anymore, especially when the play is dead.

I saw some reactions from hockey people saying Colton should get a 10-game suspension (I will disagree) and some that thought it was a perfectly clean hit (I will also disagree). Colton put himself in a position to hurt his team and it did. That’s my only issue here.

Sam Girard

This was the first truly bad game I’ve seen Girard play this season. I thought he looked weirdly overwhelmed by the pace of the game, uncomfortable with the puck, and defensively uninvolved. His play on the penalty kill was strong once again, but his play at even strength left so much to be desired.

It’s not often that mobility stands out as an issue for me for Girard but I didn’t think the legs were going very well tonight and he forced it a lot on offense when he had the puck. He may not have a lethal shot, but he has to use it sometimes to keep defenses honest with him. He passed up two clear shooting lanes tonight in favor of plays that did not result in scoring chances.

Colorado’s attempt at a 5v3

The Devils scored on their two-man advantage but lost in the shuffle of the second period chaos was a truly terrible attempt by the Avalanche with a 5v3. It started well enough with a clean faceoff win and then Cale Makar having the puck up high. Both of those things seem pretty good!

Then Makar inexplicably gave it directly to the Devils and nearly watched an odd-man rush develop despite having two more players on the ice. Ultimately, the Avs failed the opportunity without doing anything dangerous in the 30 or so seconds they had. It was ugly.

Unsung Hero

Valeri Nichushkin

I gave Nichushkin a pretty rough ride in this space after the Vegas debacle and I still think he earned it. It will stand out as the low bar for him in Denver hopefully for a long time. Tonight wasn’t an emphatic response to that kind of poor showing but I did really like most of what I saw.

The two-way play was a staple and absolutely I’d like to see a little more finish on some of the scoring chances he got tonight, but he made the pass to spring Miles Wood for a breakaway. Let’s not get it twisted – it was the easiest assist he will have all season, but he executed.

It was his hard work and forechecking that stood out to me, however, as Nichushkin fit in nicely alongside Johansen and MacKinnon at various points tonight. Nichushkin’s shot metrics were great but that he did it across multiple lines is meaningful. I want to see that offense start to break out as he feels like one of several Avs who is due a goal here pretty soon but this was more of the process that I want to see.