“I thought we were here to play tonight. No question." Avs weather the storm and dominate third period in 5-2 win

Tonight the Colorado Avalanche had the chance to address the Vancouver Canucks at home in Ball Arena. Coming out the gate, Vancouver has drawn league-wide attention for their high-octane offense and impressive record.

In 20 games, defenseman Quinn Hughes continues to lead the league in points and has prompted comparisons alongside three-time Norris finalist (and 2022 winner), Cale Makar.

They’re undoubtedly among the brightest defensemen in today’s NHL, and tonight they got to go head-to-head.

But tonight’s storyline was bigger than that. After a deflating loss in Nashville, it was important for the Avs to turn the page and ramp back up after putting together solid wins against Seattle, Anaheim, and Dallas. 

They’d have to do it without one of their most consistent penalty killers too.

In addition to Sam Girard’s absence – who is away from the team for personal reasons – the Avs were without Logan O’Connor as well. He’s day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

They’d eventually lose Josh Manson too, but they weathered every storm and won 5-2.

“I thought we were here to play tonight. No question,” said Jared Bednar.

Alexandar Georgiev earned his 16th start in net and finished with 27 saves on 29 chances.

The energy was good at the drop of the puck. Avs created chances early, but it was clear Vancouver wasn’t going to back down.

Shortly after the conclusion of the Avs first powerplay opportunity, the Canucks struck first.

Jack Johnson couldn’t contain Sam Lafferty and despite a valiant battle along the boards, Anthony Beauvillier walked away victorious. He took the initial shot on Georgiev. Georgiev blocked the shot, but Nils Hoglander made a sneaky reach to backhand the rebound in.

A Conor Garland cross-checking penalty gave the Avs another chance on the powerplay to make things right.

Bednar talked about switching things up on the powerplay at morning skate and added that Jonathan Drouin has a strength there that they haven’t quite seen yet.

Makar fed Drouin at the halfwall – Rantanen was free to rotate with Drouin to the goal line and received Drouin’s pass to make the play to Val Nichushkin planted at the net front. Nichushkin deflected it in expertly.

It was his sixth goal in five games – he’s accrued nine points over the last five games in total.

A little less than a minute later, Colorado’s second line had a terrific shift. They cycled the puck in Vancouver’s end and eventually Makar ripped a shot from up high and Drouin was at the crease to tip it in.

It was Drouin’s second point of the night in a matter of seconds.

“I thought he was good,” Bednar said of Drouin. “His game is starting to come. You can see more quickness, hungrier in puck battles, he’s coming up with some pucks (on the) neutral zone forecheck. I’d say he’s been on a steady improvement in the last five-to-six games. You can start seeing his skill come out. It’s a good time for him to start ramping up his game for us.”

The Avs finished the first with the lead, but Vancouver issued a response in an eventful second period.

Colorado took four penalties including a five-minute major and game misconduct issued to Manson for cross-checking Brock Boeser. Both exchanged shoves, so Boeser received a minor.

“I got one look at it on video so I didn’t see all the angles,” Bednar explained postgame. “Obviously they went to review. I’ll try to find some other angles tonight or tomorrow morning. My first instinct was: Boeser goes at him with the cross-check and he goes a little bit higher and their arms ride up. I didn’t think there was a lot there. But again, I haven’t seen and watched through the video.”

The Canucks took three penalties of their own within the period and there was some overlap.

During Boeser and Manson’s sentences and a subsequent four-on-four sequence, Hughes made the breakout pass to J.T. Miller on the rush and Miller went streaking off. Devon Toews got inside him and made a good defensive play, but Georgiev didn’t have a good handle on the read and Miller’s shot went short-side.

With just 9:13 played at five-on-five, the possession was split between both teams due to the constant disruption of the parade to the penalty box.

“We lose Manson, there’s 4-on-3, 4-on-4, 5-on-4, 5-on-3: we came up huge to just give that one goal up (and stay in) with a tie game, that was huge for us,” Drouin said of the second period. “Guys were playing maybe not roles they would play all the time, but I thought the guys did a good job of just stepping in and doing the work.”

The Avs had the better first period, but Vancouver had the slight advantage inside the second and led the shots battle 22-20.

With two obviously good teams, you wanted a more conventional viewing of the match-up, but the intensity was high between both groups and it resulted in weird hockey.

Weird hockey paved the way for Riley Tufte’s second career NHL goal during the third period. 

As the next man up in Logan O’Connor’s absence, a good shift from the third line granted him the opportunity.

Ross Colton made the entry, won a battle, and fed Miles Wood out high. Wood sent a shot on net and Tufte played the role of netfront menace perfectly – it went off his body and in.

Though reasonably limited in his usage, in part because of how much was played on special teams, Tufte found a way to contribute in 9:03 total ice time.

“He’s always responded well, going down and playing hard, then he comes up in a game that we’re really hungry to win and he plays really well again,” Bednar said. “The longer he spends here, the more times he’s here, I like to see consistency: stay at 85% of his best game or better all the time.”

Tufte talked about stepping up in O’Connor’s absence. “This team’s so deep and they did a good job in the off season with bringin new guys,” he said. “It’s just about getting opportunities. For me especially, when I get this call and this chance to come up and play, I’m trying to do the best I can.”

Perhaps the most triumphant moment came past the midway point in the third period.

To drive home and solidify a point, Makar asserted his dominance on a breakaway goal – totaling two points on the night.

Makar was defending in his end when he saw the opportunity to jump Miller and strip him of the puck, taking off up ice like a thief in the night.

He alternated forehand-backhand, weighing his options, and got Thatcher Demko to commit down low so he could take glove-side high.

It was beautiful from start to finish.

To round it out, Rantanen completed his two-point night with an empty net goal.

The second period presented challenges, but a steady first period and dominant third led the Avs to victory.

“The urgency to our defending wasn’t there for a couple of shifts (in the second), but then the period was over, so I wanted our team to reset and get back to what we were doing in the first period to finish the game,” Bednar explained. “Our team played hard in the third and did a lot of good things – and the whole lineup too. We had a nice effort from a lot of guys tonight throughout our lineup.”

“He’s been a constant for us and we need that… Especially tonight when you lose Manson, it’s a heavy workload.” Bednar added of Makar’s contributions to the team. “It was an impressive game from him.”

The Avs have an optional skate at Family Sports tomorrow before they head to Minnesota for the first game of a back-to-back.