Dominant Avs bully Coyotes again behind Donskoi's hat trick

That was…certainly a hockey game.

There are some hockey games that happen and if you were trying to get a friend into hockey, they would be easy sells. Lots of action, goals, hits, fights, fans going nuts, all of the random stuff that happens in hockey that makes it so great.

Tonight’s game would probably be too much of a good thing. Let’s run it down.

• 12 goals (nine by the Avalanche)
• One hat trick in the first eight minutes of the game (Joonas Donskoi)
• One goaltender change six minutes into the game leading to an NHL debut (Adin Hill to Ivan Prosvetov)
• 14 penalties called, leading to six Arizona PPs and four Colorado PPs
• 2 PPGs, one for each team
• 14 of 18 Avalanche skaters recording points
• Amazingly, two plus players for Arizona (Michael Bunting and Nick Schmaltz were both +2)
• Also amazingly, only Brandon Saad was not a plus player for the Avs, finishing at an even zero
• One thrown helmet, by Nathan MacKinnon and caught by Conor Garland’s face
• One broken pane of glass on Arizona’s bench replaced in record time by the arena crew on hand, earning the honors of King of the Game on tonight’s postgame podcast

Colorado opened up a 5-1 lead on Arizona in the blink of an eye in the first period. Arizona, behind the power of game management from the officiating crew, enjoyed four power plays and finally cashed in on the final one to bring it to 5-2.

A pretty lethargic second period from both sides eventually saw the Coyotes close to 5-3, making it a game again and setting up for an interesting third period.

Gabe Landeskog decided that was a nope and went one-man-army on the Coyotes and scored just 21 seconds after the Coyotes cut it to 5-3 to shut down any hopes for a comeback.

Up 6-3 in the third period, things were mostly fine. The Avs scored a couple more times but as the chippiness increased, you knew the dam was going to break eventually.

It finally did when Conor Garland went hard after MacKinnon in the corner, setting off a confrontation between the two.

There’s some backstory here, mind you.

Garland is having a career year on an anemic Coyotes offense and has been absolutely bullied by the Avalanche in their season series (he has just two points in the six games between the two teams). The frustration has been visibly on the rise from Garland in the last two games between these teams as he’s tired of the Avs pushing him around. Tonight, he went after MacKinnon after a puck battle in the corner.

Weird choice because MacKinnon and Hulk share the same secret (they’re always mad, Cap). We saw that play out as MacKinnon and Garland wrestled for a minute, complete with Garland trying to lift MacKinnon up by the leg to take him down. All of this ended with MacKinnon tossing Garland’s helmet, which popped off in the scrum, back at Garland.

MacKinnon, who was last year’s Lady Byng winner in accordance with his, uh, gentlemanly conduct, accrued 14 minutes in penalties in the confrontation, two more than he racked up all of last year.

Then a few minutes later the game ended. So, that was weird.

Colorado’s win extends their point streak to 12 games (10-0-2). Vegas lost to the Kings in regulation, allowing the Avs to jump one point ahead of the Golden Knights in the standings (Vegas maintains one game in hand on the Avs, however). Hell, even Minnesota lost to San Jose tonight.

All of this came on the same night as Alex Newhook signed his ELC with the Avs. I like to think the nine goals they scored is an homage to what number Newhook should absolutely wear when he slips on an Avs jersey for the first time.

All in all, pretty good day in the world of Avalanche hockey.

TAKEAWAYS

• Most impressive part of this game wasn’t the incredibly hot start, which was once again the Avs having the hockey equivalent of the zoomies. No, it was the response to Arizona making it 5-3. They could have started to get a little doubt creeping in, worrying they might be in the middle of an epic, embarrassing collapse that will end up quietly haunting them the entire season. Instead, it was the captain who stepped up and made a great individual play in the neutral zone and then wired a puck home to stall any momentum from Arizona. Whatever comeback hope there was got stopped dead in the tracks right there. Grabbing momentum is incredibly difficult and the Coyotes had managed just enough of it while also beating one of the hottest goalies three times through the first two periods. But Landeskog ended all of that right there.
• Grubauer had a bit of an off night but was still very good. As goaltenders continue being signed around the league, the goalie market continues to take shape as Grubauer just hums along as a clear-cut top-flight goaltender this season.
• What made part of tonight’s performance so impressive that Colorado’s defense was nowhere near its best. There were leaks throughout and Arizona’s offense finally, for the first time in six games, was able to find real cracks and generate shots on goal. None of it ultimately mattered, of course, because they spent the entire game chasing but seeing the Avs have a mediocre defensive night and respond with a nine-spot on offense…well, that’s why they lead the league in goal-differential (+47) and are considered one of the league’s elite teams.
• The Avs finished a 17-game slate in March with a 12-2-3 record, racking up 27 of 34 possible points. They are currently on a 117-point pace in an 82-game regular season.
• What’s the deal Donskoi? There’s hot and then there’s being tied for 14th in the NHL in goals. He just passed Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby on the goals leaderboard. Yes, he’s shooting 30% and that’s hilarious and will obviously come down but he is now just one goal behind the career-high he set last year…in 65 games played, versus the 35 he has this year. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.
• A fun fact that maybe only I find interesting: There were six different players to record assists on Donskoi’s hat trick.
• So, the Avs (read: Landeskog) started this tradition a few years ago of squirting players in the face when they either scored the first goals of their NHL careers or recorded hat tricks. Knowing this, it was hilarious to see that when Donskoi went by on the bench, Tyson Jost fired the entire water bottle itself at Donskoi instead of just squirting him with it. Genuinely, hilarious.
• Mikko Rantanen is now tied for second in the NHL with 21 goals scored. He’s tied with Connor McDavid as they both trail Toronto’s Auston Matthews for the league lead (24). Should be a fun race. Also, this:

Mikko Rantanen's final totals for March:

•17 games
•13 goals
•11 5v5 goals
•12 assists
•101 shot attempts
•5v5 goals were 17-6 for the Avs with him, MacKinnon, and Landeskog on the ice together

— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) April 1, 2021