Each team came into the game with the same 5-3 record. Minnesota, happy to be here after an unexpectedly strong start. Colorado, just finding its stride after a disappointing 3-3 start but feeling better about themselves.

With division-leading Vegas idle due to COVID-related postponements, the Avs and Wild were battling to overtake the Golden Knights and put their mark on the West race. Tonight was the first of a four-game set but the winner had the chance to set the tone for the playoff-style series.

For an early-season game, this was important.

Following their relatively easy 5-1 win, the Avs won their third consecutive game going away. Going back to their 3-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks, they’ve strung together four games in a row where they thoroughly outplayed the opposing team.

Boy, does John Gibson ever make a difference, eh?

With last year’s AHL Goaltender of the Year in net, the Wild didn’t do much to help poor Kaapo Kahkonen as the Avs put 33 shots on goal and scored twice out of seven power play opportunities.

In short, the Avs laid the wood and Minnesota’s lack of discipline was their undoing along the way as Colorado capitalized on enough of their mistakes to slowly build out their lead. It was 2-1 after the first, 3-1 after the second, and finally 5-1 after the third.

It was yet another game where Colorado used the third period to enhance their dominance, not sit back and let a team crawl back into the game. Limiting the Wild to just four shots on goal in the third period, we saw another example of the Avs finding their killer instinct.

Going back to last year, the concept of a killer instinct was a moving target. Sure, the Avs were holding leads and not consistently blowing games after entering the third period with leads, but they were letting other teams be competitive. It’s natural for leading teams to sit back and play it safe.

Following a really up and down four games to start the year, the Avs have been a different club since the start of the Anaheim series. They dispatched the resilient Ducks in the first game, got Gibson’d in the second, then beat up the Sharks for two games before coming to Minneapolis to see their old rival, the Wild.

The rivalry has slowly shifted away from the Wild as favorites to the Avalanche but games in Minnesota still cause Colorado problems. The Avs are still adjusting to life as “the favorites or whatever” and this series against Minnesota is going to tell us a lot about them.

With the first game down, the message they sent to the Wild tonight was “We’re the big kid on this block now. Calm down.” How they got there was damned impressive, too.

Already down Devon Toews, the Avs got just over three minutes of ice time from Erik Johnson before injury struck again and they were down to five defenders. Two players who have struggled quite a bit early this year, Ryan Graves and Conor Timmins, needed to step up.

They responded and got better as the game went on. The guys at the top continued to dominate long stretches of the game, especially Sam Girard, and they activated the offense from the back end once again. The Avs are at their best when their defense is pushing the pace and creating mismatches in transition.

Three more points and 12 shots on goal later, safe to say that group accomplished its two-way mission as they also helped hold the Wild to just 20 shots on goal.

Currently, one of the league’s best defenses is being spearheaded by two 22-year-olds (Girard and Makar) and a teenager (Byram) whom the team has reached its six-game limit with and now must decide to keep or send back to juniors.

Safe to say after another strong performance, Byram is staying.

The Avs are hoping they are also staying in their cozy spot in the standings: the top.

TAKEAWAYS

• I was significantly happier with Byram’s game than Evan was tonight but it was mostly because of the work he did defensively. He gets himself into some trouble but his recovery is downright elite and he whips pucks out of the defensive zone in the blink of an eye. He had the big hit tonight was more hilarious than anything else because a grown man tried him and got told the what for but it was really his work in his own zone that stood out to me. Color me surprised he’s already this good even though the offense isn’t stacking up.
• I really liked both Graves and Timmins as the game wore on. Bednar’s postgame comments about Timmins missing that little something to get him to a breakthrough in the NHL is spot-on. Anyone who has watched Timmins at every other level knows there’s that little extra gear that we just haven’t seen in the NHL yet. This is a much more normal experience for a rookie than what we’ve seen from Girard, Makar and now Byram. Graves is a guy we saw so many good things from this year and so far this season has felt like a big step back. I liked his game a lot more tonight, though, and he is going to be crucial if either Johnson or Toews is out for any significant amount of time.
• I can’t say enough about how awesome Colorado’s defense has played so far this year. That group is just locking it down in front of Philipp Grubauer. The real test comes tomorrow with Hunter Miska in net. If they can help nurse him to a victory, they are in the money.
• I’ve used this space recently to make small comments about Andre Burakovsky but I’m doing it again. He’s awesome. His all-around game has gotten so much better and he’s finding ways to impact the game beyond just making goalies feel bad about themselves with pinpoint lasers. That second line has come on in the last week and the effect on the lineup has been transformational.
• You don’t ever like injuries but the fourth line from the Avs tonight was completely different. Youth, speed, and a touch of anger? Bellemare and Calvert will be missed but the Sherwood-Jost-O’Connor trio absolutely shredded the Wild tonight. Shredded. Them. LOC got the comically lucky goal but they were buzzing all night and feasted on Minnesota. They registered four shots on goal and weren’t given credit for any of Colorado’s five (lol) hits but they kicked ass. A great example of the kind of difference depth can play when it’s going well.