Cale Makar and Sam Girard just became the Avalanche's dynamic duo now and for the future

SAN JOSE, Calif. – One minute and 49 seconds. Not much time in the bigger scheme of things, but an eternity in keeping a puck in the opposing zone uninterrupted.

That was the amount of time the Avalanche kept the puck in the San Jose Sharks’ zone in one sequence, and the two players who made the Sharks look like cats chasing fruitlessly at a string were Sam Girard and Cale Makar, who may have just become the best twosome set in Colorado since Mork and Mindy or Butch and Sundance.

Acting on a whim set in motion a day earlier, Avs coach Jared Bednar paired the 20-year-old Girard with the 20-year-old Makar on defense, and the chemistry experiment yielded liquid gold in Colorado’s 4-3 win in Game 2 here Sunday.

Makar and Girard, whose combined age is one year older than Joe Thornton, did not tally any points on the score sheet. But, boy, did they ever make a difference in the game. In the metric known as Corsi, which mostly tallies the times on ice for shots for and against, Makar and Girard had a combined Corsi for of 38, to 23 against. Nowhere was the puck possessed more dominantly than in that 1:49 sequence, which really set the tone for the rest of the game for Colorado.

If Makar wasn’t beating guys one-on-one around the wall or circling the net with the puck, Girard was doing spin-o-ramas left and right. The Avs didn’t score, but almost two minutes off the clock, on the road, is always a good thing.

What made Bednar decided to pair two 20-year-old kids together in a playoff game, with one (Makar) having all of five previous games of NHL experience?

“I thought Makar had an impact last game, and I was expecting Girard to be better, after missing some time,” Bednar said. “Getting some offense against that team is tough; they check real hard as a five-man unit, so getting those two guys together can produce offense. And the second part of it is, with Girard out (in the first round) (Ian) Cole and (Erik) Johnson were real good together.”

Of Makar and Girard together, Bednar said, “We liked what we saw. We’ll probably go back to ’em.”

Girard was much, much better in Game 2 than a Game 1 in which he showed more rust than a 1973 Dodge Dart left in the rain for six months. Time and again, he wheeled away from forechecking pressure, or kept pucks alive in the offensive end with his whirling dervish moves. He and Makar combined for five shots on goal, and just made life easier in general for the Avs’ other D-men, particularly Tyson Barrie.

When Girard and Makar were resting, Barrie was freer to skate with the puck and create off the rush and he finished with a goal and two assists. His one-timer from the right side gave the Avs the lead for good, 2-1, in the second.

Barrie could only shake his head when asked about the job the kid duo did.

“They’re both two, dynamic young guys,” Barrie said. “That kind of shift they had there says it all. They’re going to be a nightmare for forwards trying to defend, for a long time. To make an impact like they have is so impressive. When I was 20 years old, I was still in the minors trying to find my way. They’re going to be so good and it’s exciting to watch.”

Some guys might have taken it a little bit personally, with Makar parachuting into the playoffs with so much hype and attention, especially a guy like Barrie, who has been getting it done for years in a similar role. But, no, Barrie loves it.

“No, not at all, holy smokes no,” said Barrie, when asked if it was difficult seeing a kid like Makar grab some of the limelight. “We’re in the business of winning here. I’ve been here a long time and established myself. People know the kind of player I am. If the day comes where someone better than me comes and pushes me out, so be it, it means our team is getting better. It’s great to be able to add a guy who can move the puck like that. The more the merrier.”

Makar played 14:57, while Girard played 15:43. Asked after the game what it was like playing with his fellow 20-year-old, the rosy-cheeked Makar said, “It was fun. He’s a really good player and we’re both dynamic when we’re out there together. Can’t ask for much more than that in the offensive zone. We’re both guys who want to play offense, but at the end of the day, our first job is to play defense. We might get hemmed in our own zone at times and there’s going to be a learning curve, but I really enjoy playing with him.”

Asked “who gets to play offense first?”, Makar smiled and said, “No, we read off each other. That’s what good D men do. Sam if obviously a very good offensive zone and he’s got some great spin-o-ramas out there. (On that shift) when you keep the puck in the offensive zone you can tire them out a little bit and have some with it.”

Hockey people salivate at the prospect of having two young quality defensemen on the same roster. It makes the rest of the game so much easier.

In Makar and Girard, the salivation could turn into straight out drooling for Joe Sakic and Co.