Francouz brilliant again as Avs claw past Devils

While the Avs certainly didn’t play their best tonight, they definitely played and when you have a game that counts in the standings, you just hope to walk out with the two points.

That’s exactly what the Avs did tonight in a 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils in a game beset by lethargic play on the ice and frenzied speculation off it.

As the Devils have traversed the continent on their current road trip, star wing and soon-to-be-former Devil Taylor Hall has played continued doing his thing. That ended tonight when Hall, despite participating in warm-ups, was a late scratch from the action and kicked off a whirlwind of trade talk.

With Colorado frequently mentioned as a major contender for Hall’s future services, it was natural to wonder if the Avs had pulled the same trick they did with Derick Brassard last year when they traded for him with his current team in town so all he had to do was switch locker rooms.

That ultimately did not happen as the game came and went with no resolution to Hall’s situation. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see that resolved before the holiday roster freeze next week but, for tonight, it appears everyone can sleep peacefully.

What happened on the ice was nothing short of a showcase of Pavel Francouz’s ability to frustrate and shut a team’s offense down. Two nights after going 55 minutes until giving up the only goal against, Francouz followed it up with another 55 minutes of shutout hockey.

That goal against made it 2-1 in favor of Colorado as the Avs got goals from Gabe Landeskog in the first period and Valeri Nichushkin in the second period.

It won’t count as a high-event game but it certainly didn’t have the same intensity of a regular NHL game. It most definitely did not feel like the kind of game the top team in the western conference would be involved in but here we are.

One of the measures of good teams in the NHL is their ability to win without playing their best game. The Avs pulled that trick again tonight but it will very likely not fly next week as they take on the St. Louis Blues in an early-season clash of the titans.

For tonight, though, the only deal completed was Colorado getting two points against a bad New Jersey team. Aesthetics aside, sometimes that’s all that matters. And goaltending.

Goaltending always matters.

GAME TAKEAWAYS

• When Taylor Hall participated in warm-ups and was then announced as a scratch just minutes before the game began, the entire feeling of the game changed. Was Hall being traded to the Avs? To ANYONE? What was going on? Where was Hall? He wasn’t in the press box with the rest of the New Jersey scratches. Where was he? Why was his equipment bag sitting outside of the NJ locker room? I repeat, WHAT WAS GOING ON?
• It felt very much like everyone in the building, the two teams included, was distracted from that point on. The press box was buzzing with everyone checking phones, firing off texts, and trying to get ahead of what could be a huge breaking story. The players engaged in an extremely disjointed, half-hearted affair that lacked focus and all intensity. It was mentioned by several people that it felt like a men’s league game and it’s hard to argue. It was a slog.
• The Avs finished this week 2-0-1 on their three-game homestand and you can’t argue they played anything more than a “B” game all week. Even their best effort against Philadelphia included a lengthy stretch of Flyers domination in which the Avs just had to survive the surge.
• The Avs survived that Flyers surge and tonight’s very lethargic overall effort thanks in part to Pavel Francouz’s exceptional play. He was nothing short of awesome in denying a New Jersey team that seemed significantly more invested in grabbing two points tonight than the Avs did for most of the game. I don’t think we’re in the neighborhood of a goalie controversy yet but Francouz certainly has had a strong recent run (even counting the five he gave up against the Flames) and Grubauer has had more of a slow drip of mediocrity after the first month of the season followed by injury issues. We aren’t there but if it continues we might get there eventually. Frankie has been awesome.
• The Avs got through a week of subpar play but accumulated five of six possible points. The old Avs used to have play near a perfect game to walk out with a win. That a mediocre effort from them beat two NHL clubs this week is a testament to the kind of talented roster they’ve built.
• Mediocre play doesn’t win you games in St. Louis against the champs, however, and now that this is behind them, they can begin focusing entirely on a big-time matchup. Well, as big as it gets for December.
• Nathan MacKinnon finished with two more points and you barely noticed him tonight. He already has 20 goals and 50 points on the season. It is December 13.
• This isn’t a space you’re reading for personal life stuff but I’m taking advantage of the platform to wish my mom a happy birthday today! She is one of the best people on the face of the planet and has always encouraged me to chase my dreams as passionately as possible. I was extremely lucky to be born her son and I hope she enjoyed an excellent day celebrating how awesome she is.