After the Colorado Avalanche went 0-2 over the weekend in their return from the 4 Nations Face-Off break, everything kind of felt like death. The team scored only two goals, none from forwards, and they lost two games to Central Division opponents who aren’t very good.

It just seemed like all of Colorado’s problems were at their worst. Sure, they played well against Nashville, but scoring only one goal is a good recipe to lose in the NHL. They followed that up by playing quite poorly against St. Louis. With that disappointment behind them, they came back to Denver to begin a six-game homestand.

The first game on the schedule was against arguably the toughest opponent they will see in those six games, the New Jersey Devils. The same formula of playing well but failing to score dogged the Avs through two periods but eventually Colorado broke through in a 5-1 win. How did it play out?

Let’s talk about it.

Nathan MacKinnon is in his Thanos era

The Avs jumped all over the Devils early but their inability to score was marked by Nathan MacKinnon failing to pot one into an empty net thanks to a Dougie Hamilton stick check. It was great defense by Hamilton, but you couldn’t help but feel sick for the Avs after watching them fail to capitalize on their chances over the weekend and it haunting them.

MacKinnon eventually got a lucky secondary assist on Artturi Lehkonen’s goal that put the Avalanche up 1-0, but it was just a board battle where everyone was crashing and banging and the puck did its own thing.

From there, the Avs couldn’t cash their chances through two periods again. MacKinnon beat Devils goaltender Jake Allen but the puck squirted through Allen’s pads and was headed to the goal line before Hamilton pulled it off the line and kept it from making the game 2-0.

In the third period, MacKinnon and the Avs finally broke through. Colorado got two power play chances, one early and one late, and MacKinnon scored on both of them. The first came from a rebound off a Necas one-timer that Allen lost sight of. The confusion allowed MacKinnon to whiff on his initial attempt and try again, scoring the second time.

After a Jack Hughes goal made the game 2-1, that aforementioned power play later in the third period came. This evoked memories of Peter Forsberg as the puck went wide of the net on a Makar shot, bounced off the side of the net, and MacKinnon patiently waited to bat it out of the air and into the goal. It was all so calmly done, but MacKinnon found himself with a three-point night, and, not coincidentally, the Avs were up 3-1.

MacKinnon’s scoreless weekend was parlayed into his strong rebound effort tonight. The three points moved him back into sole possession of the NHL’s scoring race and he became the first player this season to hit the 90-point threshold.

He got two days of rest and went right back to obliterating opponents, even good ones like the Devils. The Avs have lots of rest ahead of them the rest of this season so, you know, good luck with that.

Blackwood gets back to business

Hughes smoking a one-timer past Mackenzie Blackwood in the third period was the only goal that Blackwood allowed and it wasn’t a very good goal to allow, at that. The shot was in the center of the net and it was obvious Blackwood had lost his net a bit on a play that was disjointed after the puck had taken an unexpected carom off Ross Colton’s skate.

Still, that was the only goal he allowed. He had allowed seven goals in his last two starts, so getting back above a .900 save percentage and not allowing more than two goals was an important milestone for Blackwood to get his game back in good shape.

It was mission accomplished for him with 22 saves on 23 shots against. The Avs defense was stout once again and didn’t force him to be under siege for an extended period of time, though there were a few minutes in the second period where New Jersey had started to tilt the ice a bit.

The defense bent a little bit, but Blackwood kept the Devils from breaking it open and that is exactly how the system is designed to work. It was a strong game from Blackwood against the club that drafted and, ultimately, traded him.

Avalanche depth forwards finally, finally scored a goal

An Avalanche forward not playing alongside Nathan MacKinnon had not scored a goal since January 31st when Joel Kiviranta scored the final goal of a 5-0 win over the St. Louis Blues at Ball Arena. Tonight was February 26. I know there was a two-week break and all, but for a forward on any of the other three lines to not score a goal for six full games is, ahhhh, bad. It’s bad!

With the Avs up 3-1 late in the third period, the Avs finally got a reprieve from their scoring problems. Of all players, the much-maligned Casey Mittelstadt scored his 10th goal of the season with assists from Jonathan Drouin, who barely missed a goal earlier in the night, and Ross Colton, who is due for serious positive regression that hopefully began tonight.

Logan O’Connor added the fifth goal of the night and suddenly the Avs and their fans were having fun in Ball Arena once again. It was all badly needed. The trade deadline is coming up quickly in a week. There’s been a lot of talk about the Avs replacing Mittelstadt at the deadline and needing more depth scoring.

The glimmers of hope tonight started with the return of Val Nichushkin to the lineup, who had not played since leaving the December 31 game against Winnipeg early. This was just the fifth game of the season where the Avs had their top-six forwards healthy throughout the game. The win tonight moved them to 4-1 in those games.

Whether it be injury or underperformance, the Avs need this to be a turning of the page on what has happened in the previous 59 games.