John Gibson stifles top-heavy Avalanche offense

In terms of effort, this was the kind of game we expected to see a lot more of from the Colorado Avalanche this season.

In terms of execution, this was the kind of game we expected would happen going against a goaltender of John Gibson’s ilk this season.

The Avalanche outshot the Anaheim Ducks 33-15, allowing just a single shot on goal in the third period.

Naturally, that lone shot on goal was the 180-foot empty-net goal scored by Hampus Lindholm. It was just that kind of night for the Avalanche.

John Gibson, back from the dead having essentially taken last season off, is off to a rip-roaring hot start as he looks to get back his good name among the league’s elite netminders and performances like tonight’s are a good way to do it.

He stopped all but one shot for a brilliant 32-save night in which he benefited from some good fortune along the way. The Avs hit three posts in the first period, leading Cale Makar, the victim of two crossbar pings, to wonder if their goalposts just bigger.

They, in fact, were not bigger, just in the way more.

Sometimes, that’s life. Colorado outshot, outchanced, and outplayed Anaheim pretty much across the board. Hell, the Avs even won the faceoff battle.

But two Ducks goals scored at opportune moments was all the Ducks needed despite a late Mikko Rantanen goal.

Everything about this game was significantly better from Colorado’s performance on Friday against this same Ducks squad. They upped their play significantly, only to be thwarted by one of the league’s best putting on a show.

It wasn’t even as though Philipp Grubauer played poorly, either, as the two goals he gave up were great shots that weren’t getting stopped by even the man at the other end of the ice.

Sometimes, that’s just how the game goes. There will come a point in time this year when the Avs get outplayed and beaten up and down the ice but manage to score an extra goal or two along the way and steal two points. That stuff always happens.

The Avs finish their four-game road trip 2-2 and move to 3-3 on the season. The bad news is they’ve failed to build off wins as they have only strung together two wins in a row so far. The good news is losses haven’t mounted as they’ve not lost consecutive games yet this year.

The San Jose Sharks roll into town this week before. The 3-3 Sharks just got their first regulation victory of the season tonight against Minnesota.

TAKEAWAYS

• The good was great for the Avs but the bad was a nightmare. Colorado’s top line and top pairing shredded the Ducks. Shredded. Everyone else, however, was in much more of a dog fight tonight. I don’t have a ton negative to say about this one so if you’re seeking a pound of flesh from me tonight, there’s a good chance you end up disappointed.
• What I think is becoming clear is that one of Colorado’s biggest weaknesses last year was the lack of a true top pairing on defense. The additions of Devon Toews and Bowen Byram hasn’t necessarily ‘fixed’ that issue but Cale Makar might be morphing into a dominant force. Makar had three iffy games to start the year but the last three games he has produced the following at even strength:
  81 CF/30 CA
  39-15 shot advantage
  43-9 scoring chance advantage
  22-4 high-danger chance advantage
• The takeaway from those Makar numbers is that even when he’s not dominating games, he’s limiting the quality of chances against. Given how much ice he naturally shares with Nathan MacKinnon’s line, he’s also doing it against top competition. Those are video game numbers.
• Makar, Toews, Girard, Byram all were different levels of good-to-great in this game. It’s hard not to overreact to how Byram has started because it’s been so good but with three games already played and only three left to make the call on whether to keep him or preserve the first year of his ELC, right now this is a no-brainer. Byram brings another dynamic element to the game and he should stick around. It will be interesting to see what happens when he has a truly abysmal performance. Not from a standpoint of keeping him from playing more than six games, just in getting an idea of what his floor is like.
• Nazem Kadri and J.T. Compher continue to struggle but at least there were signs of life in this one. That’s certainly not good enough but when talking about two guys who are vital to Colorado’s success and have been massive black holes so far, signs of life is a step in the right direction. They both need breakout games and soon.
• Scary moment for Toews in the first period as he took a skate to the face and left with about six minutes to play. He didn’t return until the start of the second period but appeared no worse for the wear.
• Mikko Rantanen has scored goals in five consecutive games, a new career-high for him.
• Ryan Getzlaf threw an audible fit on Friday night when Steve Kozari called a slashing against the Ducks when they clipped Sam Girard’s hand and he repeated the feat tonight when Nathan MacKinnon drew a slashing penalty when his hand got hit. Kozari made the call and during the stoppage of play, Getzlaf had a lengthy conversation with him about it. I’m not sure what Getlzaf’s objection is to calling slashing because both were clear-cut fouls but it was an interesting dynamic that played out both games with the same official.