The Trade Deadline has officially come and gone, and… goodness, if there was ever a definition of “all in,” the Avs met it in stride.
A busy day for the organization as a whole, starting with a morning skate in Dallas, where we got the chance to talk to guys like Nick Blankenburg, Nicolas Roy, and… Victor Olofsson.
It’s bittersweet, but the day was tainted by the departure of a guy Coach Bednar called a “super human being” in Olofsson.
With that said, Bednar mentioned that he was not the only one excited by Nazem Kadri‘s return to the room.
In other housekeeping news, Mackenzie Blackwood was announced as the starter, facing Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger on the other side of the ice.
This game started off with a BANG, highlighted by a five-goal first period. Cale Makar got things going on the power play. Miro Heiskanen responded with a power play goal of his own just a few minutes later. Dallas would put two more on the board courtesy of Wyatt Johnson and Justin Hryckowian. Nathan MacKinnon eliminated the goal differential by one with a buzzer-beater, just two seconds remaining in the first period, to go into the first intermission down 3-2.
Both Jamie Benn and Martin Necas notched goals in the second period to carry this game into the final frame with a 4-3 score.
The Avs came out trying everything possible to find the equalizer, but it wasn’t until fifteen seconds remaining in regulation that Valeri Nichushkin came to the rescue, his first goal since January 28th.
Nothing came to fruition in the sudden-death five minutes of overtime, but both Nichushkin and Necas were the heroes of the shootout to find the 5-4 victory for the Avs.
And… All of the credit in the world to Scott Wedgewood, who came in as relief for Mackenzie Blackwood after Dallas’ fourth goal and stood on his head to keep the Avs in this one with some unbelievable saves, both in regulation and in the shootout.
Nazem Kadri’s return to Colorado
The speculation began a few weeks ago when Calgary began putting out feelers for the 35-year-old forward.
It was rumored that he had no desire to go to any other team as long as Colorado was still on the table. With the reports that a deal was denied by Calgary’s management due to retention issues, it seemed impossible that this would get over the finish line. Seems a change of heart happened to get this deal done.
“That adds like a guy that we know real well, won with him before in Nazem Kadri,” Coach Bednar said following the win. “It’s exciting. He’s got a lot of friends still on the team to stay in touch with him. He’s excited to be coming back. We’re excited to have him back, and I think it’s another impact dynamic player that you can put into your roster.”
A sky full of milestones… or something like that
That’s how the song goes, right?
In all seriousness, not only was this a game that showed the Avs they could slay their playoff demon, but a couple of guys hit some cool milestones in the process.
With three points in tonight’s victory, Martin Necas was able to not just reach the peak to record his 400th career point, but surpass it.
*cough* Necas is also one game away from his 500th career NHL game… Just something else to celebrate next game.
Gabe Landeskog also notched his 600th career point with an assist on Necas’ second-period goal.
After the game, I asked him how cool it was to reach this milestone in a game like this one.
“Yeah, I guess so. Didn’t even know that, so thank you,” he replied humbly.
