Whoo boy, this game did not get off to the same start as last night.
Thursday night in Denver featured what I believe was the first “screw it” game of the home stretch we’ve seen the Avs play in. What I mean by that is, you had two teams with almost nothing on the line, just somewhat of going through the motions of an NHL game.
A little over a month ago (five weeks to be exact), the Colorado Avalanche went into New Jersey to take on the Devils on the second night of a back-to-back. The game started well for the Avs getting up 3-0 before New Jersey came storming back to win the game 5-3 in the late stages.
It was a high point for the Devils, as they were virtually out of the playoff race at that point, and while it really didn’t matter much (at all) in the standings for the Avalanche, you could tell it just didn’t sit right with the players. They knew they played poorly, and it was a game they really shouldn’t have lost.
Fast forward to tonight, and some of the circumstances felt familiar. The Avs were playing their second game in as many nights, and the Devils were rested and waiting with not much to play for other than the moral victories that can come from playing well against a top team.
You knew the Avs were going to try and do the opposite of what they had done the night before, where they jumped all over the tired Los Angeles Kings early. No, tonight they were going to try and settle into the game, play sound defensively, and manage the puck well, without letting New Jersey get out ahead, which would have forced the Avs to chase in a game where their opponents were more rested than they were.
The first period was about as boring as you’re gonna get in a hockey game, and I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way. That’s probably exactly what Avs head coach Jared Bednar wanted. A perfectly mundane period that allowed him to roll all four lines, and took some of the energy out of New Jersey’s bench.
The Avalanche gleefully took a 0-0 tie into the first intermission, and then started the second period looking like they wanted to end any thoughts that they could be swept in the season series with New Jersey.
On a night where the Avs honored the National Champion DU Pioneers with a pregame ceremony and puck drop, it was 2017 National Champ and DU alum Logan O’Connor who opened the scoring just three minutes into the period, when he collected a loose puck in front, turned and fired it by Devils netminder, and former Av, Andrew Hammond.
That goal really seemed to energize the Avalanche, in what had been a kind of sleepy game to that point, and they just took over. Despite being well-rested, the Devils just started to look outmatched.
The Avs were buzzing, just hounding the puck all over the ice, winning battles, and forcing turnovers. Less than five minutes after O’Connor opened up the scoring, it was the relentless puck pursuit of Artturi Lehkonen that led to him finding Andre Burakovsky being all alone in front, and he wired one past Hammond to double the Avalanche’s lead.
The goal was reviewed momentarily, as the net was knocked off its moorings right as the puck was crossing the goal line. It was determined the puck was across the line before the net came off and the goal stood.
At this point, the ice really started to tilt, and the Devils looked like they just wanted to get this game over with. The Avs weren’t done though, having seemingly learned their lesson from the last time they played Jersey.
Building on his strong start to the game, O’Connor outmuscled Michael McLeod for a loose puck and forced the young Devils forward to haul him down, resulting in a power play opportunity for the Avalanche.
Let’s pause on the Avs’ power play for a moment. The top unit is currently with both Gabriel Landeskog and Nazem Kadri. Especially when you consider what type of season each off those two players is having, conventional wisdom would tell you that the PP should be significantly worse when those two aren’t in the lineup.
Uhhh… that hasn’t been the case.
The two players that have been tasked with stepping into those spots are Val Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen. While they both bring a much different element to the man-advantage than their injured counterparts, there’s a chance this version of the power play is even better.
Lehkonen and Nichushkin are among the league’s best puck retrievers, and them on a power play with the likes of Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, and Mikko Rantanen makes for what feels like unrelenting pressure and stellar puck movement.
The Avs controlled the play for nearly a minute straight before Mikko Rantanen walked off the wall, threw a shot on net, and Lehkonen cleaned up in front to make it 3-0.
So here we were, a 3-0 Colorado lead, right where it all went wrong the last time these teams got together. Unlike last time though, the Avs clamped down and gave the Devils almost nothing to build on.
That lead held until the intermission, and well into the third period, which allowed Bednar to continue rolling all of his lines and D-pairs.
New Jersey standout-youngster Jesper Bratt finally got his team on the board, as the Avs allowed the game to turn into a bit of a track meet and things really opened up for about five minutes, which is not something that is recommended when you’re playing on tired legs.
Ultimately though, it wouldn’t matter. The Avs shut things down from there on out. The Devils had a late push with the net empty, and they were able to put a couple of high-danger chances on net, but Pavel Francouz had the answer.
Just eight games left to go in the regular season for the Avs, and a big matchup coming up against Carolina on Saturday. Tonight, though, was business as usual.
