Studs

Ivan Prosvetov

There’s no chance a goaltender wins a game without the team in front of him scoring goals, but there’s no chance that team wins games during a third period in which said team turtles hard without a goaltender meeting the moment.

I can nitpick all I want and bring up that the Flames beat him cleanly twice and caught the post, but the reality here is that Prosvetov was great. He played to his size and moved well. His puck tracking was good enough and he can only play the game he’s in, so no complaints from me.

Extra kudos to Prosvetov for beating Calgary in a game where both teams were tired but he hadn’t started since November 9. That’s a long time for a goaltender to not play meaningful hockey (his relief appearance in that disaster against St. Louis on November 11 hardly counts). This was a great performance from the kid when you add up all the pieces.

The second line

Jonathan Drouin and Ryan Johansen both scored goals but neither was involved in each other’s goals, so that was kind of a weird wrinkle, but ultimately that’s a very productive night from a line that has taken flack for its lack of impact on games.

Drouin’s move in the offensive zone was only upstaged by his finish, which was pretty interesting to me. I couldn’t help but wonder if the scouting report on Drouin is triple underlined that he doesn’t like to shoot because Dan Vladar was very deep in his net given where Drouin had the puck. Was he expecting a pass? Whatever the reason, Drouin finished.

Speaking of surprises, Vladar committed hard to Johansen on his partial breakaway and when Johansen went for the old-school wraparound, there was no getting back to cover the other side of the net. It was two great finishes from two players the Avalanche need to be impact guys. Tomas Tatar played, so that was neat.

The third line

They didn’t score but they probably should have.

Logan O’Connor was back and this line immediately reverted to form as a pesky, puck-dominant trio. I’ll write about this in more detail later but O’Connor has been the constant between the Avalanche having a great fourth line and now a great third line.

The other guys, though, were all over the ice. Miles Wood was a thorn in Calgary’s side all night and I’m curious if Mackenzie Weegar is going to sleep tonight thinking about not getting that fight that Wood very clearly wanted.

This was a preview of the playoff version of Wood where he sets up shop in front of the opposing team’s net, uses his speed to cause problems in the neutral zone, and gets his agitation ramped up and the other team doesn’t enjoy his presence.

Ross Colton probably should have scored, as mentioned above, as he’s the guy with the finishing touch on this line. His physicality and bowling ball status is minimized only because that’s all Wood does.

Anyway, this line was great at 5v5 with 15 shot attempts to just 8 given up, 7 shots on goal to only 3 given up, 8 scoring chances generation versus 5 against, and a 6-3 advantage in high-danger chances. For a third line, that’s a healthy amount of eating greedy.

Duds

Caleb Jones

Jones is getting a considerable look with the ongoing absence of Sam Girard and up until tonight it would be fair to say he has done well with it. Tonight, however, was one of those games that reminds you why teams have not been shy in moving on from Jones.

His work with the puck was rushed and he appeared to make hurried decisions all night, leaving his various partners out to dry and causing problems in his own zone. His defense didn’t make up for it as he looked, to me, out of control at times and I really didn’t like his recoveries.

It was a mess of a night statistically, too, as the Flames outshot the Avs 8-2 at 5v5 when he was on the ice. Even worse, Calgary enjoyed a 13-3 scoring chance advantage against Jones. It wasn’t even a pairing thing as Jones struggled alongside Jack Johnson and got absolutely rocked with Bowen Byram before struggling some with Cale Makar. Only Devon Toews enjoyed any level of success with Jones.

Given the results tonight, there should be no hurry to try Jones and Byram together anytime soon. Speaking of which…

Bowen Byram

I really didn’t hate Byram’s overall game or anything. I think there’s plenty more there in Byram’s game that can be improved (especially his confidence offensively), but the main reason he is in this section is the Delay of Game penalty he was called for when he threw the puck over the glass.

This was the third straight game he’s been called for that exact penalty, so that has to stop.

20 games in and this is already the second stretch of three straight games Byram has taken penalties, so it’s safe to say that’s an area of improvement.

Unsung Hero

Josh Manson

I said this on the postgame podcast but I like the feel of it so I’ll reiterate it here: Manson’s physicality is the key to getting to the rest of his game. When he’s playing a bruising, punishing defense in his own zone, it unlocks his confidence to do everything else on the ice.

He was a menace tonight even though he was only credited with four hits, but that’s four hits in a building that is known for being very low on awarding hits. He was the “Manimal” that the Avalanche re-signed him to be and we have rarely seen since the Stanley Cup run.

It wasn’t just the defense, either, as he was attacking with the puck and showing off some of his chops on the other end. He didn’t finish with points but probably deserved a little better fate there because he was creating some great scoring opportunities and getting into the offensive zone with control and speed, two elements that usually lead to good things for the Avalanche.