Cale Makar and Val Nichushkin shut down the Sharks 6-0

Colorado was served tonight’s game on a platter. The San Jose Sharks came to Colorado on the heels of a 3-2 overtime win over the Winnipeg Jets on the road. The Avs would have the benefit of rest and a day’s break from their Sunday night loss to Seattle after taking Monday off.

Kurtis MacDermid returned to health and took Brad Hunt’s place on the third pairing, Jonas Johansson was recalled to back up Alexandar Georgiev, and the Avs were teed up to knock this one out of the park.

First Period

Colorado came out the gate visibly the better team. The Sharks didn’t register a shot on net until well past the midway point of this frame.

At 4:08, Val Nichushkin helped to grab the puck after it was rimmed around the boards. Nichushkin sent it cross-slot to Devon Toews who sent it to Cale Makar teeing up at the point. Makar wristed it through traffic, and Artturi Lehkonen helped to tie up and distract Nikolai Knyzhov to make it all possible.

By 12:51 into the period, the Sharks still hadn’t registered a shot on net. Nichushkin collected a Makar shot rebound that came around the boards. Nichushkin passed the puck to Nathan MacKinnon, MacKinnon reset to Devon Toews, and the movement allowed them to create space for MacKinnon to re-collect the puck in the high slot and rip it in.

Three minutes later, Colorado went on the powerplay after MacKinnon was tripped. They had two shot attempts on net and a third blocked. As it winded down, Mikko Rantanen took issue with a hit along the boards but resumed play. A broken play from the Sharks in the Avs end (thanks in part to Lehkonen’s stick) tipped the puck to Sam Girard who scooped it up and raced up ice with Rantanen in tow.

Girard passed to Rantanen at the left circle and wristed it in on Kaapo Kahkonen.

They closed out the period with shots 19-2 in favor of Colorado. The Avs Corsi for percentage at 5-on-5 play was a shocking 83.78%.

Second Period

The Avs carried the momentum of the first right into the second. 

At 1:22, Makar’s shot was blocked by Evgeny Svechnikov and Nichushkin pulled in to take the puck and reset to MacKinnon at the left circle. MacKinnon sent the puck up to Makar who fired it in – Nichushkin was in its path and credited with the tip in.

Then at 2:45, San Jose cleared the puck out of their end. Makar collected the puck in the defensive zone and angled the puck out to the neutral zone for Matt Nieto to collect near the offensive blueline. Nieto tapped it ahead for Denis Malgin to find and Malgin wristed it in from the left circle.

Kahkonen was pulled from San Jose’s net and James Reimer came in.

The Avs continued to lay it on dominantly. They endured a penalty kill on a Jack Johnson minor and outshot the Sharks 15-5.

With 1:39 remaining in the second, Makar danced around two Sharks defenders and whipped the puck back to Lehkonen at the netfront and he snapped it in.

Bo Byram took a tripping penalty right at the minute mark. It didn’t look like Byram really caught William Eklund at all, but the Avs killed the first minute as the second-period buzzer sounded.

Third Period

At 3:27, Erik Karlsson was upset over a missed high-sticking call. He threw his helmet across the ice in protest and earned a two-minute minor and ten-minute misconduct.

With 5:20 left, Colorado was nearing the end of their penalty kill (on a Jack Johnson roughing) and Reimer came out of his crease to play the puck. Lars Eller was there to challenge him and Reimer held him up and gave Colorado a powerplay chance because of the offense. 

The Avs closed out the game with shots 43-13 and Alexandar Georgiev earned his fifth shutout of the season. It was a dominant win from start to finish.

Observations

Val Nichushkin’s 4-point night: For the first time since his rookie season in 2013, Nichushkin recorded a four-point night to match his single-game career high set on Dec. 7, 2013 vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. He’s had a point in his last nine appearances (after missing the recent Dallas game due to illness).

“Ten years ago it was that I (last) had four points,” said Nichushkin. “Probably (my) next (four-point) game will be in 10 years again,” he joked.

Since experiencing discomfort from his surgically repaired ankle at points throughout this season, Nichushkin has been no stranger to maintenance days in an attempt to ramp back up to 100%. He’s missed 29 games due to illness or injury so far.

It’s been encouraging to both see Nichushkin take optional skate days like he did last Tuesday and the boost in his production that especially broke through in late February through now. Not lost in all of this is the burst of offense from his linemate, Nathan MacKinnon.

MacKinnon has had a goal in the last seven home games. With a goal and an assist tonight, he earned his 26th goal and 76th point and remains on track for a 100-point season.

MacKinnon’s pursuits are only made more possible with linemates like Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen who work hard along the boards to keep possession alive and sustain zone pressure.

Penalty kill: Colorado went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill tonight and has only allowed one power-play goal over the last five games, going 13-for-14 in that time. Through three kills, the Avs managed to generate two shots on net and another blocked attempt.

San Jose had only two shots on net in that time (with a blocked attempt thrown in as well), and Georgiev’s workload was made so much easier tonight thanks to an aggressive, shut-down penalty kill.

Devon Toews did a lot of the heavy lifting along with Cale Makar. New guy Lars Eller registered the third-highest time and gained valuable reps with the penalty kill unit.

Jared Bednar’s thoughts alongside Cale Makar’s:

Jared Bednar: “I expected us to be a hungry team and doing things the right way and playing the right way. From start to finish, (we did a) really nice job getting back above pucks, shutting down their rush attack, and then turning the pucks back on them. We had some really good o-zone time, good possessions and decisions. We were shooting the puck and getting to the net. There’s a lot to like on both sides of the puck: what we did on the defensive side to get us out of our own zone, and what we did on the offensive side as well.”

Cale Makar when asked if the guys needed a game like tonight to shake it off: “I don’t know if it’s ever needed. I feel like we should have the confidence as a group to always be able to do this. But no, I think like I said tonight, we knew that they could be vulnerable coming in on a back-to-back, and I think that that shifted our mindset. Maybe we just (need to) have that mindset going into every game now.”