Avs-Stars Game 60 Studs & Duds

Studs

Nathan MacKinnon

As Nathan MacKinnon goes, often so goes the Colorado Avalanche. Tonight, that meant a comfortable victory because MacKinnon was flying out there. He finished with a goal and an assist and it is notable to me that both of his points came in front of the net, not in transition.

The Avs are a handful when their transition game gets going at a high-octane level but they are nigh unstoppable when their best players are going hard to the net. MacKinnon’s speed gave Dallas fits and the hard-nosed effort from both him and Mikko Rantanen, who was also awesome, had the Avs humming in the second period.

He didn’t even hit 20 minutes of ice time but his two points and six shots on goal extended his home point streak to an astounding 29 games. Pretty efficient night! He didn’t get an assist on the brilliant power-play goal they scored but it was his play in the neutral zone to win the puck against a Stars defender and the referee that helped spring the Avs for the tic-tac-toe passing play that drove the dagger in the heart of the competitive spirit of this game and made it 5-1.

That’s the rub for the Avs this season. When MacKinnon is changing the game, the Avs are usually winning. That’s what happened tonight.

Andrew Cogliano

I loved the play of Cogs tonight. This is short and simple. He made an awesome pass to Joel Kiviranta for Colorado’s first goal (great finish by Kiviranta, too. I did him a disservice on the podcast) and then his speed through the neutral zone and finish for Colorado’s third goal was aces.

Two goals from your fourth line? You better win that game. Cogliano has been capitalizing on his chances in the last week. That’s always fun.

Alexandar Georgiev

He wasn’t spectacular in the sense of making highlight-reel saves and withstanding a sustained siege from the Dallas Stars, but he gave up one goal. So many times this season the conversation surrounding Georgiev is “just don’t lose them the game” and that’s been a struggle as the Avs have had to outscore their problems too frequently.

Not tonight as the Avalanche offense built a nice lead and Georgiev didn’t give anything easy to let the Stars back in. He was calm and collected throughout, a key for him as we’ve seen his emotional outbursts negatively impact his play.

Great goaltending is rarely sexy and that’s what we saw from Georgiev. Good positioning, good puck-tracking, was aggressive when he had to be and made saves that we have all already forgotten because that’s the nature of the job.

That’s exactly what you want from your starter. Aces performance.

Duds

The first minute

There is veeeeeery little to criticize in a 5-1 win where the Avs cruised for the final 30 minutes of the game, so I guess let’s talk about the only thing that didn’t go very well.

In a big divisional game that could play a pivotal role in deciding home-ice advantage in a playoff series, the Avs came out against a team that played an overtime game last night and…immediately conceded the first goal of the game.

It was a simple breakdown down low between Cale Makar and Sam Girard and a nice finish from Logan Stankoven. Not a great start.

Pretty great response, however.

Unsung Hero

Artturi Lehkonen

Lehkonen is an engine of effort and he’s the secret sauce to kicking MacKinnon and Rantanen to a different level. He was great in this game and he was close to an assist on Rantanen’s goal for a third point.

His game is more of the meat and potato variety but it’s the high-quality kind. Lehkonen’s spectacular run of form recently is very encouraging as Valeri Nichushkin nears a return to the lineup and Jonathan Drouin keeps creeping his way toward a 40-point season.

Colorado’s forward corps might slowly be rounding into form as the trade deadline nears. Maybe. Finally. Potentially.