Cale Makar and Nazem Kadri continue leading the Avalanche to victory

As sports betting seemingly creeps into every aspect of our lives, you learn a few things along the way. This year, I’ve learned that typical NHL over/under lines sit at 5.5 or, if it’s a particularly explosive matchup, all the way up to 6.5 but rarely get higher than that.

So when the Colorado Avalanche beat the Ottawa Senators in a 7-5 barn burner, it doesn’t just feel like two games worth of goals; for the NHL, it definitely is.

In a back-and-forth affair that both teams seemed simultaneously determined to win and lose, the Avs were the last team standing as Alex Newhook’s go-ahead goal with 1:33 to play in regulation pushed Colorado across the finish line.

In a game with 12 goals scored, it certainly comes as no surprise there are a few offensive stars to pick through tonight. Cale Makar scored two goals on a career-high nine shots on goal while Zach Sanford registered the second hat trick of his career and Nazem Kadri continued trying to chase down Edmonton’s dynamic duo on the scoring leaderboard with a four-point night.

Across both teams, seven players had multi-point games. Jonas Johansson actually replaced Darcy Kuemper in the second period for 2:25 while Kuemper got his repaired and the Avs scored in that time to make it 3-2, briefly making Johansson the goaltender of record.

Kuemper came back in and Sanford immediately scored his second goal of the game on just Ottawa’s second shot of the second period at 16:33 of the period.

It was a game full of weird things like that.

The Sens actually went from trailing 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 to leading 4-3 and 5-4 in the third period but couldn’t close.

To add to Kuemper’s bizarre night with skates, Ottawa’s fifth and final goal of the night was scored because Avalanche defenseman Ryan Murray had his stick stuck in the gap between Kuemper’s boot and blade, immobilizing him and giving Sanford an opportunity to bank the puck off Kuemper’s mask and into the net. It worked and Sanford had his hat trick while the Sens had another lead.

Mikko Rantanen’s tying goal on the power play erased that lead as Filip Gustavsson was generally terrible for the Sens tonight. If you just looked at the box score, Gustavsson would have seemed to outplay Kuemper as he finished with a .849 save percentage and “only” gave up six goals on 39 shots while Kuemper got lit up for five goals on 20 shots, good for a cool .750 save percentage.

Gustavsson, however, was genuinely getting lit up. Kuemper, on the other hand, certainly didn’t come close to playing his best game of the season but also seemed like the most cursed man in the building.

Kuemper was beaten by a deflection, two perfect shots, a bad rebound with no defensive coverage on the backdoor and then the puck off his mask while Murray’s stick was keeping Kuemper from getting back on his feet. It was both a bad and weird night for Kuemper.

What really stood out to me was the resiliency of the Avalanche tonight. We’ve seen them on multiple occasions already this season collapse into themselves like a dying star when things start going against them. This was the ultimate game of it feeling like the universe was against them, to say nothing of shoddy officiating that also played a minor role in how the game played out.

Instead of the Avalanche getting down on themselves, they just kept attacking a Senators team that was quickly running out of gas after not having played for the last week due to a COVID-related shutdown of the organization.

It was sloppy at times for the Avs but they generally dominated Ottawa throughout the course of the game. You can see from the shot chart and heat map of the game that the Avs were having their way with an overmatched Ottawa club.

Were it not for some wild bounces, great puck luck, and a bad night from Kuemper, the Avs probably blow out the Sens.

Instead, it’s a statistical apocalypse for just Kuemper, who wears all the ugliness of tonight but was due for an off night and the Avs actually bailing him out.

Anytime you can survive what could very well be the worst night of your starting goaltender’s season and still walk out with two points, you have some pretty clean living going on there.

With 31 goals in their five-game winning streak, I’d say the Avs are living just right at the moment. They even survived one of the wildest, weirdest games in recently Avalanche history. If you’re going to get into a mess like tonight, you might as well win.

The Avs did that and secured their fifth consecutive win as they host the hotter than expected Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night.

TAKEAWAYS

• Kadri’s four points puts him at 23 in 15 games and puts his points per game right in line with that of Alex Ovechkin. Kadri moved into fourth in the NHL in scoring with just those 15 games played. Everyone else in the top 10 of the scoring race, except Brad Marchand is also at 15 games but just 20 points, has played at least 17 games so far. For a player on the wrong side of 30 and in a contract year, this could be setting up as one of the great redemption arcs of recent NHL history if Kadri can continue to play at this high of a level. It’s not just production, either, but you’re seeing him make little plays all over the ice that are keys in winning. Last week against Vancouver, Kadri was the guy diving to clear a puck from his own zone in the final 90 seconds while the Avs protected a one-goal lead. Tonight, it was teaming up with Gabe Landeskog to make a great play to keep the puck in the zone that led immediately to Rantanen’s game-tying goal. Kadri also made a very smart play on his empty-net goal, taking an extra stride to get to center ice just in case he didn’t hit the net and icing could be avoided. It’s a lot of great, smart, productive hockey from Kadri right now.
• As stated above, I don’t think Kuemper was very good tonight but he was also almost cruelly unlucky along the way. It’s huge the Avs got two points out of a nightmare evening like this for Kuemper, who had been very good through his last six games and two periods before the Seattle Kraken dropped three on him in the third period of a decided game. The five goals against tonight make it eight against in the last four periods. Avs getting four points from those games is a good reminder that it takes a village.
• Makar won the NHL’s Third Star of the Week and went out and had nearly the best game of his NHL career tonight. He was dominant all over the ice and was playing with the kind of confidence the Avs need from him (especially) while Nathan MacKinnon is out of the lineup. I also appreciate head coach Jared Bednar not trying to get cute and give Makar a free shot at a hat trick with the empty net as Bednar went with the guys he wants to get most comfortable finishing games in Devon Toews and Erik Johnson.
• Toews lost his contain on the backside on Ottawa’s fourth goal but otherwise was outstanding in this game (and I’m not 100% convinced that was Toews’ assignment but it sure looked like it to me). He denied two separate zone entries with his stick that led directly to goals six and seven for the Avs.
• Alex Newhook has three goals in his NHL career and all three are game-winning goals. Moxie and/or intangible thing or just lucky a couple of times early on in his career? Time will tell, but that kick of the puck to his skate on the game-winning goal sure was a slick little play. No doubt Abby taught him that.
• Even without Bowen Byram, Colorado’s defense is on a totally different level in terms of how aggressively they attack and get involved in the offense. Completely different level. When they play with confidence, I don’t think there’s a better puck-moving defense in all of the NHL. Toews brings a huge element of aggression as he is always using his stick to deny free zone entries and transitioning back up the ice on offense. The group is a joy to watch. If only they could get fully healthy…