Makar magic propels Avalanche point streak to 14 games

Remember earlier this season when Cale Makar’s inability to score goals was indicative of a team-wide issue as the Avalanche struggled to score but didn’t struggle to generate good looks or hit a few posts every game?

It was all of the posts and odd bounces that have gone against Makar that came to mind tonight when he floated a relatively harmless wrist shot towards the net but a fortuitous bounce (maybe two) on the way towards the net resulted in Saturday night’s game-winning goal with just 41 seconds remaining in the third period.

The goal pushed Colorado ahead 2-1 and they would close out the Blues for a sweep of the two-game series and moved the Avs to 12-0-2 in their last 14 games.

In a grindy game that you would think perfectly suited the Blues, it was Colorado who seemed to gain more strength as the game went on and they settled in with relative ease to what the Blues like games to become: ugly muckfests.

Despite the Blues getting to play at their preferred pace, the Avs outshot St. Louis 34-28. The Blues can at least take solace in the fact that while they walked out of Denver with two regulation losses and now one point out of the final playoff spot in the West Division, at least they managed to outhit the Avs 18-6.

No doubt that will make them feel better on their plane out of town.

Were it not for that, basically the only thing the Blues got out of this trip into Denver was a harsh reality check that they simply aren’t on Colorado’s level in their current form. That will be true of a lot of teams missing their top defenseman, as the Blues happen to be, but it had to be disheartening that even when things were going their way, they still couldn’t pull a point in Denver.

The biggest surprise of the two-game set was the play of Ville Husso, the Blues goaltender who posted a save percentage tonight over .900 for just the fifth time in 12 appearances this year. Husso locked it down and kept the Blues in it, stopping break ways from Mikko Rantanen and Nazem Kadri en route to an impressive 32-save performance where he just refused to buckle under Colorado’s pressure.

Even the Makar goal that got by Husso was deflected off a St. Louis player’s stick before sneaking past Husso.

Unfortunately for St. Louis and Husso, the counterpart tonight was Philipp Grubauer, the West Division’s Star of the Month. Grubauer’s run of excellence continued as he recorded his 12th straight win, tying Patrick Roy and Peter Budaj for most consecutive wins in team history.

Grubauer’s 27-save performance boosted his already immaculate goaltending record this year and helped bolster his Vezina candidacy. He made several great saves throughout the night as he provided the necessary backbone of a team on the second night of a back-to-back.

Those legs were just strong enough, however, as the Avs found a different way to win against an opponent who frequently makes life miserable on them. It’s an important win as they look to put pressure on Vegas, now four points behind with one game in hand, in the race for first place in the division.

Beating the Blues at their own game?

Not a bad way to finish off the first two of six games these two teams will play over the course of this month.

TAKEAWAYS

• Not too much from me in this space tonight as the Avs won the kind of gritty and low-scoring affair some insist they just cannot win. If they start making this a more regular habit, there will be very little talk about what this Avalanche team is incapable of because that list is shaping up to be “basically nothing.”
• Really don’t love Jared Bednar’s usage over the course of this b2b. He has an awesome defense but one whose legs need to be protected from themselves a little bit. This is still a marathon and having high-skating defensemen is a privilege I think he’s still adjusting to. The trio of Toews/Girard/Makar is special and I think Bednar is still learning to balance their talent and is trying to find the sweet spot of how to use them a lot while also keeping them fresh. Girard especially looked spent by the end of these two games. This isn’t like when Bednar had Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie to unleash. These guys require a little more management because of how much they use their legs to drive their success. This is especially true when Dan Renouf gets into the lineup and plays less than 10 combined minutes across both games? Is he nursing an injury? If so, why is he here? If not, why is here? I don’t mean existentially, I mean for rational hockey reasons, Renouf getting this TOI indicates either a lack of health or trust. Why bother with either with Conor Timmins finally healthy? At least he’s still trying to find his way in his rookie year. What’s the upside of Renouf’s usage?
• I know the Blues have taken hits on the injury front this year but I am shocked at just how…beatable…they appear to be. Without an exceptional night from Husso, Colorado likely wins this 4-1 or worse. Common thought coming into this season was the Avs getting eight shots against the Blues in the regular season might help them prepare for what has been a frustrating style for the Avs to play against over the last few years but unless the Blues elevate their game a bit, their regular season series may prove less useful than taking a practice ACT test to prepare for the SAT.
• Andre Burakovsky really needs to find his game. He’s very quietly playing himself out of the comfort zone of that second line. If he doesn’t get things turned around in another game or two, I think Bednar should start looking at swapping him with Joonas Donskoi. You don’t want to break up a third line that’s been gangbusters but Burakovsky is too important to Colorado’s success for them to not try to kickstart his game a bit. He has just two goals in his last 10 games and both came in the 9-3 shelling of Arizona. He has been committed defensively as I’ve noticed multiple backchecks during the last week where he got back hard and made a good play. That’s great, you love that, but he’s mainly getting paid for his work with the puck, not without.