The Colorado Avalanche dominated the St. Louis Blues in a 5-0 victory at Ball Arena on Friday night.
If this was a heavyweight boxing match, the Avalanche started throwing haymakers as soon as the bell was rung. Colorado jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first period with an emphatic offensive barrage, and although the Blues tried their best to land a couple of blows themselves, the Avs won every round in a contest they controlled from start to finish.
Jonathan Drouin got the action started at the 15:03 mark when he wrangled in a loose puck off the boards and proceeded to put it past the visiting goaltender Joel Hofer. It was the first of two goals in the period for Drouin and it was the result of an aggressive offensive mentality from Colorado, who out-shot St. Louis 21-6 over the first 20 minutes. It really seemed like the Blues were overwhelmed by the speed and intensity that Colorado came out with, and it was definitely something that pleased Jared Bednar.
Martin Necas then kept things rolling a few minutes later with his first goal in an Avs uniform. No. 88 is dangerous when he has the puck in space and he made the most of a lackadaisical defensive effort from the Blues by going untouched into the slot before burying a wrist shot for his 17th overall goal of the year.
Despite dropping two of the first three games when he arrived, Necas has looked like a really natural fit with Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. There aren’t many guys that could come in and match the pace that those stars play with. It’s been really encouraging to see the scoring opportunities the top line is creating. Nobody in the locker room is surprised that Necas is performing well, but even Bednar admitted it’s been impressive to see how quickly he’s established chemistry with very little practice time with the team.
After establishing the 2-0 lead, you wondered if the Avs might let their foot off the gas, but instead they took advantage of a couple of dumb penalties from the Blues.
First it was Drouin, who scored unassisted for his second of three points in the period. Then Cale Makar made the most of Brayden Schenn trying to goon things up with another power-play goal.
To the Avs’ credit, they didn’t allow the Blues to bait them into anything dumb, they just went about their business and maintained control of the game throughout. It was a much-needed division win on home ice after a stretch of disappointing results out on the road.
Here are a few more takeaways from a night where the Avs likely let out some frustration.
Blackwood was all business for Avalanche
St. Louis had very little juice offensively so Mackenzie Blackwood didn’t have to work super hard in this one. He also didn’t give up any cheap ones that allowed the Blues to chip their way into the deficit.
Blackwood stopped all of the 19 shots that he faced and ensured that the big lead the Avs built up in the first period didn’t go to waste. It was a business-like performance from him in a crucial win.
Stepped on their throats
The Avs had all of the momentum after the first 10 minutes and were absolutely flying out there, so the Blues tried their best to create some momentum by playing with more physicality. It just didn’t work.
For one thing, they were reckless which allowed the Avs to get a couple of early power plays after already building a multi-goal lead. But what was so big in this one was the response from the Avs, who didn’t waste the chances and instead gladly buried two more home.
The Avs showed a killer mentality. It’s something they should show more often.
On the right track, now stay there
The Avs played better than the final results might indicate in the most recent road trip, especially considering the circumstances. But this was the type of showing everyone has been dying to see after a rollercoaster of a month — both in terms of emotion and performance.
Bednar has been open about how important this stretch before the break is. It would be nice to see this team string together multiple performances like this one and stack a couple of wins.
