Cale Makar And Scott Wedgewood provided heroics when the Avalanche needed them

If you were looking for the Colorado Avalanche to respond to their terrible third period where they blew a 2-0 lead to the Calgary Flames two nights ago, then tonight’s (mostly) poor performance by the Avs in Chicago certainly left you wanting.

Instead of responding with some fire and fury against a Blackhawks team that had lost 10 of 11 games coming into tonight’s game, the Avs came out…fine. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good. It was fine. Against a team as bad as Chicago, that’s a win for them, especially with a bizarrely late start time (the latest in Avalanche history, in fact).

When the Avs got on the board first via a Sam Malinski goal, it looked like things were going to trend in a good direction. That goal didn’t stay on the board, however, as Malinski watched his second goal of the season wiped away thanks to an offside challenge.

With that, the Avs decided that was enough trying for a while and they packed it in for what appeared to be their third consecutive loss after falling behind, 2-0. Instead of sitting back and letting that be the case, they roared back to life and snatched two points away from the Blackhawks with a 3-2 shootout win.

We have to talk about it, so let’s do that.

“What the hell is even that?”

Have you seen this? Because it’s all I had going through my mind all game.

It isn’t a hockey-related meme but I still felt that same energy as this game wore on. The Avs are relatively secure in the third spot in the Central Division so this game may end up meaning nothing, but with the St. Louis Blues having won 10 straight games and the teams matching up again this weekend, there’s a real chance of the Blues catching the Avs and pushing Colorado to a wild card slot.

With all of that in mind, watching Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar go ghost tonight was particularly frustrating. The much-improved lineup balance doesn’t mean Colorado’s best players can just not show up but that is exactly what they did (until they stopped, especially Makar).

It wasn’t great at 5v5, but it was even worse at 5v4. The Avs power play was awful tonight as it allowed a shorthanded goal and a clean breakaway that didn’t turn into a goal but came real close…twice.

With all of that damage done, the Avs were gifted a power play early in the third period while trailing 2-0. What did they accomplish? Nothing. Their best scoring chances came from the second unit, but they still failed to score. I can’t stress enough that this Chicago team is terrible.

The Avs wanted to use this game to get back to the good habits that led to them taking flight and kicking ass following the trade deadline. That isn’t what happened. Colorado looked sleepy and uninterested and couldn’t get anything behind Chicago goaltender Spencer Knight. Was Knight very good in this game? He sure was. Was Colorado also awful through stretches of this game? Also yes!

Because of hockey’s volatile nature, the Avs put together a strong third period and put the rest of their issues behind them and clawed back to tie the game. They finally solved Knight on a classic Makar sneak from the blueline and MacKinnon found him. The second was Makar throwing a puck at the net in the dying seconds of the game and Martin Necas getting a tip-in goal to send the game to overtime.

A decent overtime saw some chances for each team but the best scoring chance for either team came from Logan O’Connor (?), who was stopped by an outstretched Knight to keep the Blackhawks alive. Enter the shootout.

Using an entirely different slate of shooters from the three who were blanked against Calgary two nights ago, the Avs went with Brock Nelson (save), Nathan MacKinnon (goal), and Arturri Lehkonen (game-winning goal). Much better results this time around and that goal by MacKinnon was gooooood.

Scott Wedgewood saved the Avalanche

Tonight was the first of a back-to-back so Wedgewood got the classic “backup gets the easier opponent” start while Mackenzie Blackwood is currently slated to get the game tomorrow night in Columbus against the Blue Jackets.

Wedgewood was the main reason the Avs even got one win against the Blackhawks with his brilliance powering a 3-0 shutout of the Hawks back in early March. That was a stellar night for Wedgewood that was followed again tonight with more spectacular work in net as he was once again the star of the show for the Avalanche.

I didn’t love the first goal allowed, but it was a shorthanded 2v1 and Wedgewood got caught cheating a bit and that’s just how it is sometimes. The second goal you’d like a save just because the goal scorer, Connor Murphy, hadn’t scored in nearly 40 games so that isn’t a guy with a scary shot, but this is the NHL and everyone has that club in the bag.

In the end, we saw an array of mesmerizing saves from Wedgewood that showcased his athleticism and penchant for productive chaos in the crease. He stopped shots coming across the net, on breakaways, and with the blade of his skate. He was everything you could have asked for from a goaltender. Wedgewood kept the Avs in the game even when the skaters seemed disinterested in the part where they should be competing.

You go back and look at every big save he made and after all the twists and turns of this game, he was the number one reason the Avs salvaged two points.

For my money, Wedgewood was Colorado’s best player.

Cale Makar continues his quest for history

Did I talk earlier about MacKinnon and Makar not being any good in this game? I sure did. Did Makar still have two moments of excellence when MacKinnon made a great pass to him and Makar buried it to ensure the Avs wouldn’t give Chicago their first shutout of the season and then had the shot that Martin Necas tipped for the game-tying goal? Absolutely. Have I enjoyed asking clearly rhetorical questions in this piece? I sure have.

Anyway, Makar’s third-period goal gave him a new career-high at 29 on the season and puts him one shy of the hallowed mark of 30. Defensemen scoring 30 goals is like a forward scoring 60. It doesn’t happen often and there aren’t a lot of players in NHL history who have accomplished the feat.

There have only been 17 30-goal seasons by a defenseman and only eight players have ever done it. The last to do it was Mike Green of the Washington Capitals back in 2008-09. Makar will have six games to get the goal to make a little history.

The other piece of history he’s been chasing, the 100-point plateau, will likely remain out of reach for him this season. His two-point night got him to 87 on the season but 13 points in six games would be a beast of a stretch, even for Makar. He is three points shy of tying his career-high in points (90), which he set last year.

Injuries return to cast a shadow over the proceedings

It had been a while since the Avs had sustained a big injury, but that just might have been the case tonight when Jonathan Drouin left the game after the first period with a lower-body injury. He had an awkward collision with Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno along the wall where it looked like Foligno’s knee might have gotten a piece of Drouin’s thigh or knee.

He skated on it a bit and took a few shifts after that but ultimately decided to shut it down for the night. Head coach Jared Bednar did not have an update after the game but Drouin is going to get some more tests done to see what’s next.

The other injury scare came when Martin Necas went awkwardly into his own crease while laying out to defend a scoring chance and got his head snapped back a bit. He laid on the ice in obvious pain for a bit but got back up and returned to the game, later scoring the game-tying goal.

Bednar mentioned that they are still in a wait-and-see mode with Necas because his neck might stiffen up over the evening and cause him issues ahead of tomorrow night’s game in Columbus.