Mikko goes "Threeko" to lead Avs

There’s always a chance after a big win against a main rival for the emotional letdown game. A team pours so much energy into beating the team its chasing in the standings and then goes on the road to take on a bottom-feeder.

It happens all the time. Sometimes teams just don’t take the bad teams as seriously as they should.

The Avalanche avoided that trap tonight as they responded to their beatdown of the St. Louis Blues by going into New Jersey and beating the Devils 5-2.

In a season of turmoil that has included the firing of its head coach and trade of its best player, the Devils had actually turned things around lately and had started winning some games.

None of that mattered in this one, however, as Mikko Rantanen recorded a hat trick and helped lead Colorado to their second straight victory.

The Avalanche ran with similar lines to the St. Louis game minus Valeri Nichushkin, who was a late scratch due to illness. Vladislav Kamenev came into the lineup in Nichushkin’s place and, predictably, showed the flashes that have always made him so intriguing. He even recorded an assist on Ian Cole’s goal that put Colorado up 2-0.

But the real story of this one was head coach Jared Bednar re-uniting his top line once again. After moving them around a bit to try to find a spark, he put Rantanen back on the right wing next to Nathan MacKinnon and Gabe Landeskog and it paid immediate dividends.

MacKinnon and Rantanen’s weird superhuman chemistry led to Colorado’s first goal and they added Cale Makar to the mix for the third goal just eight seconds into the third period to give the Avs a 3-0 lead.

As things do with Colorado these days, there were a few moments of tension as a Colorado PP that could have essentially ended the game turned into a short-handed goal by Blake Coleman, pulling the Devils within 3-1.

That’s when things got weird.

Tyson Jost was called for interference and the Devils went on the power play with a chance to make it 3-2 and really put the pressure back on the Avs.

Instead, Matt Calvert and Mackenzie Blackwood got their skates tangled up behind the New Jersey net while Blackwood was out of his net playing the puck and Calvert was forechecking. Both players hit the deck and the puck went straight to Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who put the puck into the empty net to restore Colorado’s three-goal lead at 4-1.

The short-handed goal was reviewed, challenged for goaltender interference, and the call on the ice stood – good goal and the Avs were now on the PP. Colorado failed to score on it and the Devils did score on a PP of their own a few minutes later but that’s when Rantanen iced the game with the empty-net goal, his third of the night.

When Colorado’s stars show up like they did tonight, it’s very hard to beat them. For a team like New Jersey, who needs an awful lot to break their way in order to beat the Avs, it was just too much of a mountain to climb.

Colorado continues this three-game road trip on Monday when they take on the New York Islanders and potentially old friend Semyon Varlamov.

GAME TAKEAWAYS

• Rantanen showed flashes of being back to his former self last game against St. Louis. He scored the goal on the PP in that game but he was a totally different beast at 5v5 tonight. The Devils saw the best Mikko had to give and the moose was most definitely loose in New Jersey.
• Good call by Bednar to see that his lines weren’t working but Rantanen was humming next to Compher and Burakovsky. The decision to put Rantanen up next to MacKinnon was a touch of (easy) genius and the initial breakup of that line accomplished what it needed. Rantanen is rolling now and MacKinnon continues his assault on the NHL this season. Number 29 is up to 64 points in 42 games and finishes the night second in the NHL in points, fourth in goals, and fourth in assists. Rantanen is now up to 31 points in just 26 games, a pretty ridiculous stat given the problems he has struggled with in recent weeks.
• Cale Makar took the won faceoff by MacKinnon at the start of the third period and zipped up the right side. He used his insane skating ability to dodge the check and keep control of the puck and his edgework was on full display as he maintained speed and balance while opening his body up to the defense in order to pass the puck to Rantanen. The moose did the rest from there.
• Sam Girard picked up two more assists tonight and that gives him eight in the last three games. He’s making a pretty good case for being one of the NHL’s Three Stars of the Week. He could honestly find himself on the same list with MacKinnon, who has been equally prolific this week.
• This was a pretty great start for Philipp Grubauer but the third period saw him give up two more goals. One he gets beat cleanly on a breakaway and the other was a deflection that got through the five-hole. It wasn’t a bad performance by any means but he could really use dropping the hammer on someone right now. Just a classic “goalie steals the show” kind of performance. Something to help him really build his confidence. He has another level that we’ve seen and if he gets back to it, this team will be very difficult to beat.
• St. Louis blew a 3-0 lead today and lost to Vegas in overtime. After being on the verge of watching the Blues go up by as many as ten points in the Central Division, the Avs now trail by five points with a game in hand. That’s still some cushion they have to cut into but it was close to getting away from them entirely. Beating a bad Devils team was exactly what they needed to do to keep going.
• It hasn’t always resulted in production, but I’ve really liked J.T. Compher’s game recently. He’s been using his speed much more effectively and I’m wondering if he goes on a bit of a tear here in the coming weeks if that play keeps up.
• Kamenev got an assist tonight and generally played decently in Nichushkin’s absence. The trade deadline is starting to creep up on us now so where the Avs feel they can improve will be a bigger focus. Kamenev’s solid showing is just one night but you can’t help but wonder if he’s reaching the end of his time in Colorado.