The Colorado Avalanche lost 5-2 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a strange one. These are the Avs Studs & Duds from the game.

Studs

Cale Makar

I had Makar as a Dud in each of the last two games but tonight he was absolutely electric. On his cake day, Makar got as much of the gold as he could in this game. He was Colorado’s best player and dominating shift after shift. He scored a goal and an assist but could have had two, three, four more points based on the looks he generated, either shooting or passing.

He had six shots on goal and added three hits for funsies. He was a playmaking force everywhere. People will always ask, “But what about his defense” like they’re being clever and all, but that was damn good, too. On nights when Makar’s offense is going like it was in this game, as long as his defense isn’t god awful, he’s a gigantic difference-maker.

Makar looked like the best player in the world as this game wore on.

Ivan Ivan

I’m sure people are tiring of reading me love on Ivan Ivan, but he keeps responding to increased responsibility. Tonight, he got power play time and played alongside Casey Mittelstadt to start. He got 18:11 of ice time. For reference, Logan O’Connor played 17:34 and Bednar loves him some LOC.

What did Ivan do with it? He tipped in the first Avs goal of the game on the power play, his second power-play goal of the season. His fancystats are interesting as he personally created five scoring chances and three high-danger chances at even strength. He isn’t cut out for a top-six job right now, and I think the struggles he had alongside Mittelstadt are a testament to that.

He did, however, thrive playing alongside Parker Kelly and Nikolai Kovalenko. That kind of role suits where his game is at right now. I came out of this game feeling like the Avs might have to find a spot for Ivan even when the team gets healthier. He’s doing too many good things too consistently.

Heart

Look, the Avs got rocked to open the game. They were down 3-0 five minutes into the game and things looked pretty much over. Instead of feeling sorry for themselves, the Avs turned up their work rate.

This isn’t all sunshine and rainbows because those first five minutes still happened. It was another terrible first period that resulted in them giving up three goals and having to chase the entire game. It’s not a good enough 60 minutes.

But with three minutes to play, the Avs had make it a 4-2 game and were pushing as hard as a team can push. I understand score effects and all, but in 15:42 of even strength time in the third period, shot attempts were 27-4. Scoring chances were 12-3 and high-danger chances were 6-1.

Colorado gave themselves a shot to be in it at the end. I can appreciate that effort.

Duds

The start of the game

Last year’s Avalanche squad too frequently got caught in multi-goal deficits early in games and it meant they had to set a franchise record for comeback wins to climb out of it. They managed to be that team, but you don’t want to get too comfortable chasing games.

After such a poor start against Chicago two days ago, I was hoping to see a more competitive Avs team to start the game. It didn’t happen and the game was 3-0 before you could even blink. It got much better as the game wore on, but with a decimated lineup and a goaltender playing his first game for you, this was not the kind of tight checking the Avs needed from the hop. It was disappointing all around to see them put themselves in that kind of hole again.

Nathan MacKinnon

The head-to-head storylines in the NHL are always overblown because of the team nature of the sport, but it was not hard to see Nikita Kucherov drop three points in this game while Nathan MacKinnon repeatedly deferred to his teammates.

I’m not sure what the deal is to start this season, but MacKinnon has been a little less shot-happy and trying to make the perfect play to someone else a lot more. Obviously, it’s working a bit because he’s still generating a lot of points but most of them have come on the power play.

It’s not happening for MacKinnon at even strength yet. He had only two shots on goal in this game, trailing Mittelstadt and Ivan (who had six!). With the lineup in the state that it’s in, MacKinnon needs to go super saiyan in order to keep this Avalanche offense afloat.

Two more assists are great. He’s obviously still an elite player but in this environment, I wanted to see more from him. More assertiveness. More of The Dogg.

Oliver Kylington

Normally, I’m not going to look at a guy with under six minutes of ice time and talk much about them, but Kylington’s first two shifts as a forward resulted in Tampa Bay goals. What hurts is that on both goals, Kylington is the closest Av to the play and he loses coverage each time.

I understand he’s playing out of position, but that doesn’t mean he needs to be out of position all the time. It was disappointing to see, especially considering how bad he looked as a defenseman in his first two appearances. Just a mess.

Avs Unsung Hero

Matt Stienburg

When Stienburg got called up, I thought he would endear himself to Jared Bednar because Stienburg is comfortable in his own skin and owns his role every night. He’s a smart defensive player who lays the body.

We saw him make a potentially game-changing hit in the second period when he smoked Zemgus Girgensons and draw a penalty because of it. The Avs nearly scored on that power play, which would have made it 3-2 at the time. Andrei Vasilevskiy was too good (common theme tonight), but Stienburg’s physicality changed the game.

It changed the game again later when he blasted Erik Cernak. This time, however, there was nothing clean about the hit. He got Cernak in the hit, left his feet, and took several steps. It was the works. I won’t be surprised if he’s fined or suspended tomorrow. It was reckless and predatory and dumb.

But that’s the line Stienburg walks and that’s the value he brings to the club. He’s always tuned up and, let’s be honest, the Avs could use a little more crazy in their lineup. I don’t like seeing good players get hurt and Cernak left the game and his status was unknown after the game. That’s bad for the game! Stienburg is always going to be that guy, however, and I wonder if Bednar doesn’t have an affinity for him the same way he did Kurtis MacDermid the last several seasons.