Avs roast Anaheim Ducks on eve of Thanksgiving

“They just look unstoppable.”

That’s what a member of the traveling Anaheim media said to me, in reference to the Colorado Avalanche, about halfway through the second period of what eventually became a 5-2 drubbing of the Anaheim Ducks.

And he was right. The Avalanche looked like they were just a flat-out better hockey team than the early-season surprise Anaheim Ducks. This has become a bit of a theme over the last two weeks that have seen the Avs score 36 goals in just six games.

Tonight though, it wasn’t just about what the final score ended up being. Early on, the Ducks looked like they were poised to keep their hot streak alive, they were tracking pucks well, closing gaps very quickly, and were even able to cash in on a Darcy Kuemper equipment malfunction (we’ll get there) to take a 1-0 lead.

Ultimately though, despite the good start to this season and this game, we saw the difference between a true contender and a team that is on the rise but has a ways to go.

“They just overwhelm you,” Anaheim Ducks defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk said after the game.

That’s exactly what Colorado’s depth did. Overwhelmed the Ducks. The Avs got contributions from the likes of Alex Newhook, Nicolas Aubé-Kubel, Val Nichuishkin, Cale Makar, and you guessed it.. Nazem Kadri, who made it 10 consecutive games with at least one point and just looks like a man possessed right now. You love to see it for him, given everything he went through last season.

Newhook made it back-to-back games with a goal for the first time in his career just 2:46 into the second period when he tipped a Devon Toews one-timer to make it 2-1. After having to battle through things a bit in the first, they got that lead and never looked back.

They controlled the puck, they controlled the play, and for the sixth game in a row, every player that you wanted to see step up, did.

It wouldn’t be an Avs game without something goofy happening though, right? Early in the first period, Darcy Kuemper was sealing his right post, and when he went to push off, he lost his skate blade for the second time in as many games. Not something you see every day.

“I said it on the bench, ‘what again?’” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said through a laugh. “You rarely see it happen even once. Like I’ve seen players lose it or the odd goalie every once in a while, but I’ve never seen it as often, and certainly not twice in back-to-back games”.

It was after the second malfunction that Jared Bednar decided that it wasn’t fair to backup goaltender Jonas Johansson to be coming in and out so sporadically, and it was time to put the game in his hands the rest of the way. 

“At that point, I thought ‘Okay, [Johansson] has gone in, he’s ready, he’s mentally in the game,’” Bednar said. “He made a couple big stops and I just felt like that’s his game now”.

Jonas Johansson ended up making 19 saves on 20 shots and overall turned in a really solid performance, especially when you consider the circumstances.

Bednar, who with 194 wins after tonight is now the winningest coach in Avalanche history, did also confirm that it is in fact the skate runner (the piece that attaches the boot of the skate to the actual steel itself that players skate on) that is giving Kuemper so many issues. 

He said there’s a piece that has broken on multiple pairs that keeps the steel from being held in place. Kuemper is going to switch skate runner brands and should be good to go by Friday.

Regardless of goaltender, the Avs offense has registered 36 goals in six games since Nathan MacKinnon has been out. The Avs are rolling right now, and I’ve said it several times recently, but their process and commitment to details is the best thing to come out of all of this. 

Obviously this is about winning hockey games at the end of the day, so the fact that they’re doing that is what you want. It’s the fact that all of what they are doing is repeatable, though, that is what you like most about this six-game stretch.

This isn’t like they’re squeaking out wins against bottom-feeder teams. Sure this part of their schedule is pretty light in terms of where their opponents sit in the standings, but they’re absolutely dominating the game in all three zones. Which is exactly what they should be doing against these so-called “weaker” opponents.

With American Thanksgiving being tomorrow, it is the first unofficial benchmark of the NHL season. North of 75% of teams that are within four points of a playoff position by that late-November Thursday, have gone on to make the playoffs over the last half dozen seasons or so (COVID shortened years have messed this stat given that they didn’t even play in November last year). 

After a slow start, the Avs will occupy that final playoff position in the west on the back of this current six-game win streak heading into turkey day, and when you consider they have multiple games in hand on everyone in front of them, their standing at second in points percentage might be just as meaningful right now.

So… is this the springboard? We said it when they got over .500; put that in the rear-view mirror and don’t revisit it. Is this the same thing? Led by the winningest coach in their club’s history, can the Colorado Avalanche continue to go in the right direction in the standings, and set themselves off on a run?

We’ll see if they can keep it rolling when they visit division-rival Dallas Stars on Black Friday.

Gobble-Gobble, happy Thanksgiving everybody.