The Colorado Avalanche were relieved to return home to Ball Arena tonight in a highly anticipated matchup against the New Jersey Devils. The Devils shared a similar start to the season as the Avs with a 7-3-1 record.
They knew they had a good Eastern team on their hands and looked forward to playing the next three games here at home. Colorado was tied for the fewest home games of any team in the league prior to tonight.
Hoping to establish a home ice advantage, the Avs wanted to continue racking up wins in Ball Arena.
The Avs were off to a great start with their 6-3 win tonight. They continued to be perfect at home through four games.
Alexandar Georgiev earned his 10th start of the season in net and centerman Ondrej Pavel was recalled from the Colorado Eagles to take Fredrik Olofsson’s place.
Olofsson is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He skated this morning in a red, no-contact jersey and is expected back soon.
As a result, Pavel made his Avs debut. You’ll recall that he earned a preseason game against the Dallas Stars and scored short-handed. “I had no problems with his game,” Jared Bednar said. “He worked hard. He was physical. He’s a reliable checking center.”
The lineup remained similar to the last game: Jonathan Drouin remained on the top line, Logan O’Connor on the third line, and Tomas Tatar played on the fourth line wing with Andrew Cogliano and Pavel. The second line tried Artturi Lehkonen, Ryan Johansen, and Val Nichushkin again, and the d-pairs were the same.
Avs had a terrific few first shifts. They were aggressive on the forecheck, throwing their bodies at everything in the direction of the puck.
Their energy was in the right place, but New Jersey struck first.
It was a smart play by the Devils. Mike McLeod broke out the puck and Jesper Bratt made a quick tap from his defensive blueline to send the puck down ice to Tyler Toffoli skating in with speed. Bratt’s pass was unassuming and caught the Avs off guard.
Even though Josh Manson had the step up on the backcheck, he lost his edge along the boards. McCleod passed to John Marino at the top of the slot and Marino found Toffoli at the goal line. Toffolo one-timed it in past Georgiev from a tough angle.
To the Avs credit, they didn’t appear shaken by the early deficit and continued to push.
On their second powerplay attempt, the Avs established the zone and cycled the puck.
Mikko Rantanen situated himself behind the goal line and fed Nathan MacKinnon at the right circle. MacKinnon reset to Cale Makar up high, and Rantanen tapped Makar’s shot in from the side of the net.
Rantanen’s ability to pull the Avs ahead even in the expiring minutes of a period has been a strength of his to start this year. His dedication and focus in moments he could instead feel pressure have demonstrated real leadership.
After the powerplay has struggled through the last three road games, it was nice to see them find their rhythm back on home ice.
The second period was eventful and the physicality ramped up even more.
The Avs set the tone with an early goal. O’Connor blocked a shot in the defensive zone and the redirection sent the puck to up ice. Wood dangled Kevin Bahl, sent the puck on net, and Colton was there to bang the rebound home.
It seemed the Avs got inside the Devils’ heads for a moment there. With the best powerplay in the league, the Avs’ second-best-in-the-league penalty kill noticeably knocked them off their game.
A brutal series of events suggested there might be some love lost between Miles Wood and the New Jersey Devils.
Wood laid a big hit on Jonas Siegenthaler and Dougie Hamilton took issue with it.
Hamilton went to the box for roughing and Bahl stacked an interference call on top of it.
During the man-advantage, the Avs received a bench minor for too many men.
Moments later, Colton boarded Luke Hughes with a heavy hit. Hughes went down and the Devils were furious.
Colton was assessed a two-minute minor for boarding, a five-minute major for cross-checking Meier in the resulting scuffle, and a ten-minute game misconduct. He was ejected from the game.
On the subsequent powerplay, New Jersey now sufficiently rattled, responded with a vengeance goal.
It was an effective play. The Devils cycled the puck and a quick pass to Timo Meier at the side of the crease allowed him to shoot it far-side.
Still on the kill, Wood was not to be outdone in delivering vengeance.
“That chapter is closed in my life,” Wood said. “I had a great seven years there in New Jersey, but it’s time to move on and focus on this team and this group and just trying to win.”
“We have a great team here and that’s all that matters,” he added.
Makar made the clear off a Devils’ dump-in, and Nichushkin made a quick read to ship the puck up ice to Wood who was already gaining speed. Wood wristed it glove side and scored short-handed.
The Colton penalties kept the Avs down the man-advantage and Hamilton scored off a shot from up high to tie things with about five minutes left in the second period.
In the second period alone, both teams racked up nine combined penalties. Tensions were obviously high between both teams.
Colorado in particular played angry from the drop of the puck.
“We haven’t been happy with the results as of late and our game over the last four, so we wanted a nice competitive game from everyone tonight,” Cogliano explained.
“We had a lot of fire and it was a big win. That’s a good team we played and it’s a big win for our team to move in the right direction.”
In the third period, a stretch pass from Makar and battles from Rantanen and Toews forced New Jersey’s Chris Tierney to turnover the puck right to Johansen. Johansen wristed it in for his first even-strength goal as an Av.
Bednar thought the team stuck to the game plan tonight. “It’s just hard work and a commitment to check the right way,” he said. “I believe it leads to a lot of offense. I think our guys believe in that too.”
The Avs had Jersey pinned to the mat.
Makar stick-checked the puck minutes later and created a transition on the rush. Rantanen barreled in with MacKinnon on his flank. Rantanen’s feed between Bahl’s leg found MacKinnon and MacKinnon finished it off on the backhand.
That goal provided a sense of security and necessary insurance.
From there, Colorado didn’t abandon their serious checking game, but encouraged a little fun.
Several empty-net goal attempts were quashed before Rantanen found the perfect opportunity to put this game to bed properly. His empty-net goal was a perfect bookend to tie his scoring of the night together from start to finish.
The Avs handily took the victory when it was all said and done. It wasn’t an easy destination to arrive at, but they made it thanks to weathering the storm in the second period on the long-kill and a strong push inside the third period.
Tertiary goal scoring from Wood and Colton proved huge. Their line continued to be a perfectly disastrous combination of destruction and chaos.
“They were playing a direct, North game with lots of physicality,” Bednar said of the Wood-Colton-O’Connor line. “They were all hounding pucks, checking them back, using their speed, size, strength and a lot of grit and determination going into the hard areas. That’s the way they have to play to be successful.”
“That’s why we got those guys – that added grit, physicality. You see it: two big hits tonight on their D. That can take its toll and keeps the D on their toes, maybe creating some turnovers,” he added. “In this case: Wood finishing the check, we get a power play out of it after they just scored a big goal. O’Connor block to a Wood net-drive and then Colton picks up the rebound. That’s the type of goal you want them to score. It was a good night for those guys.”
One of the biggest takeaways from the game came from the guys at the top of the lineup.
After three shutout road games – the Avs needed more from their stars. MacKinnon was kept to three points in five games and registered his 5th goal of the season tonight. Makar earned three assists and Rantanen had two goals and a primary assist.
Johansen’s first goal at even-strength was important too.
Bednar said the success was the result of every single player buying in and committing to both sides of the puck.
“I know our guys like to score, they want to score, they want to make plays. It’s not always gonna be easy,” he said. “The other team has something to say, so you have to work through their checking game (and) make sure you’re staying committed to your own. Our big guys led the way and everyone else followed. It was the most consistent game as a four line effort.”
It was a strong response and complete effort from the Avs in an exciting game of which Cale Makar described as lively.
The Avs will have another chance to extend their home record to five games against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday.
