The Buffalo Sabres and Colorado Avalanche tend to have games that are either extremely dominantly skewed or chaotic beyond belief. Tonight was one of the latter.
The first period saw five – yes, five – goals total. The Avs came out of the first frame with the lead, starting with Martin Necas. A stretch pass found a darting Necas, who put it past Sabres goaltender Alex Lyon just 52 seconds in. Just past the six-minute mark, Artturi Lehkonen uses his net-front presence to put away a Sam Malinski shot and make it 2-0 Colorado. That was two goals on three shots for Alex Lyon, and he gets yanked for it. Buffalo head coach Lindy Ruff sends out Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in his stead.
Just over a minute and a half later, former Avs defenseman Bowen Byram gets Buffalo on the board. Mackenzie Blackwood made the initial stop, but Byram came zooming in to tap it past him.
Brock Nelson regains the two-point lead with the help of linemates Ross Colton and Gavin Brindley, who recently got promoted to the second line due to Valeri Nichushkin (LBI) being updated to week-to-week, per Coach Jared Bednar at morning skate. A great pass from Brindley just below the blue line finds Colton, who gives a short pass to an open Nelson to get the goal.
Jordan Greenway gets the final goal of the period, his first of the season, 13 1/2 minutes into the frame. A quick pass from Owen Power on the boards finds a rushing Greenway, who slaps it past Blackwood to put Buffalo back within one. The period will end 3-2.
The second period wasn’t quite as eventful, with both Colorado and Buffalo tallying a goal apiece thanks to Tage Thompson and Gavin Brindley, respectively.
The third, especially towards the end, was tilted in the Avs’ favor. Martin Necas nets his second of the night with just over three minutes to go. To add extra insurance, Gabe Landeskog adds an insurance empty netter to cap off a 6-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Fourth Wing night.
The second-line connection
Collectively, the second line had four points tonight, two of which belong to Gavin Brindley.
Brindley is proving to be exactly the smart player everyone viewed him as, which is exactly what earned him the promotion to the second line. His first point came in the form of a secondary assist on Brock Nelson’s goal, a beautiful pass to Ross Colton from just below the blue line. His second point comes as the lone Colorado goal in the second period.
I don’t want to gloss over Brock Nelson’s goal, though – or Ross Colton’s primary assist, for that matter. Starting with Colton, who earned his 7th point of the season, it’s the smart pass to Nelson, a short reactionary pass when he realized he was gaining pressure fast. He finds Nelson in an open spot just beside him, who makes a smart shot to get it past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Now, there may be a bigger conversation to be had coming from this game. Two of Brindley’s goals came while he was on the 4th line. With an overtime goal and the goal from today’s game to add to that, he now has the same number of goals as Brock Nelson, who has spent the season so far centering the second line. More production is expected from your 2C, obviously, but I wonder if this temporary solution to fill Nichushkin’s spot is something that can jumpstart a guy like Nelson to produce more consistently on the scoresheet.
Early starts win out… AGAIN
A stat I LOVED adding to last game’s instant reaction, and another I’ll add to this one.
The Avs, after tonight’s game, are 7-0-1 when leading after the first period. They finished both the first and second frames in the lead and completed the game on top.
Both wins from tonight and on Tuesday started with goals scored within the first minute of play. On Tuesday, Artturi Lehkonen scored just 28 minutes in to kickstart a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Tonight, that honor goes to Martin Necas, who scored a breakaway goal 52 seconds into regulation.
The complete 60-minute effort might deserve a conversation tonight, but it’s a lot easier for a team to play without having the pressure of playing from behind their opponent.
