Nathan MacKinnon's excitement over playoff-ready roster: "All you really want is a chance."

It was the first game for all of Colorado’s new additions and Val Nichushkin’s first game back since January 10th after he entered the NHLPA’s Player Assistance Program to receive care.

It was to expectations. There were obvious growing pains and adjustments on the fly, but the team improved period-by-period.

More importantly, the Colorado Avalanche delivered another statement game of a slightly different kind.

Their 2-1 overtime over the Minnesota Wild was obviously a closer decision than the result of the Detroit game, but it emphasized how well Colorado’s front office and pro-scouting staff anticipated the fit of new players: Casey Mittelstadt, Yakov Trenin, Brandon Duhaime, and Sean Walker.

A debut far from perfection, their motors never stopped and the hard work was evident from Avs players new and old. There was a palatable excitement around the direction of this team.

MacFarland’s Vision

Avs GM Chris MacFarland addressed the media for a second time this week to recap the deadline. He opened with a thoughtful shoutout to Kurtis MacDermid for his time spent in an Avs uniform because he felt he was omitted the first time.

“I just wanted to take a quick opportunity to talk a little bit about Kurtis. He was a really important guy here. Pretty special person. His role – he was a tough guy, right? But he showed up every day, battled hard for us and worked every day to improve. That was a tough one.”

MacFarland unpacked the necessity of the new additions.

“You can’t have enough bodies. It’s a war of attrition come playoff time,” he said.

He believed this group deserved to have an active front office willing to support them.

“Our guys (have to) determine –  Joe [Sakic], myself, Kevin [McDonald], the staff – do they deserve to have the chips pushed in? And we think they did. Nate and these guys, they’re in their prime. It’s a fine line though, and you got to make some tough decisions.”

“You never say never on anything if it means improving your hockey team,” MacFarland added.

Nothing was off the table for Colorado. No stone left unturned.

“It will be a fun last few weeks and then the fun season begins.”

MacKinnon’s Excitement

Nathan MacKinnon recorded a two-point night and continued to impress in Ball Arena.

On their first goal less than a minute into the contest, Colorado was aggressive on the forecheck. Jonathan Drouin disturbed the play enough to battle along the boards, and with the help of Artturi Lehkonen, the puck was sent behind the net by the Wild, and MacKinnon collected it.

MacKinnon dropped the puck on his backhand to Lehkonen skating toward the net. Lehkonen picked it up on his forehand, carried it to the opposite post, and slipped it in.

MacKinnon extended home point streak to 32 games – tied for the third-longest streak in NHL history and closing in on Gretzky’s 40 game record.

He also recorded his first career 70-assist season. The last Avalanche player to have as many in a campaign was Peter Forsberg (77 in 2002-03).

Later on the game winning goal, Colorado cycled the puck and MacKinnon made an incredible seam pass to Mikko Rantanen at the bottom of the right-circle.

Rantanen slid the puck parallel the goal line to Val Nichushkin planted at the crease all alone. Nichushkin settled the puck and hit it in – an exciting way to cap off his first game back.

Postgame, MacKinnon shared his thoughts on management’s approach to the deadline.

“It was great. I thought we had a solid team, but it just didn’t feel right sometimes. Now it feels awesome. Super excited, super motivating,” he said.

“All you really want is a chance. We feel like the front office has given us a great chance with this roster.”

MacKinnon’s special season deserved to be rewarded with the best team possible to band together in a deep playoff run in pursuit of it all.

New Guys

The realities of icing a lineup with new players was evident through two periods. Colorado’s regulars went to the box four times. Two stick penalties and two holding calls pointed to a team overcompensating.

A penalty shot was awarded later and Alexandar Georgiev was saved by the post.

Similarly, a number of broken plays in the offensive zone could be chalked up to building chemistry in real time – learning guys’ tendencies and better anticipating one another.

The improvement from the second period to the next was impressive. The Avs limited their giveaways, continued hitting, controlled in all situations, and outshot the Wild by a wide margin.

Casey Mittelstadt showed promise on the second powerplay unit in particular. His hands were as advertised and he was quick to retrieve pucks. The potential was there. His speed kept up with Colorado’s on the whole too.

Yakov Trenin also intrigued. He was worked off the puck in the lone goal-against, but he proved to be an important player at the faceoff dot. He won 56% of his draws including several at the start of the penalty kill.

The overall physicality of the group seemed ramped up too – a point Bednar emphasized this week and noticed with the new additions.

“We were having a tough time drawing penalties tonight and the [Ross] Colton line goes out. I think Duhaime might have been out with them on that shift, and they’re going to the net hard.

They had a few different shots at the net, fighting for rebounds out front, and then Colton gets knocked down from behind. That’s the identity I see from that line.

They’ll get there, build it more consistently. All those guys play with an edge, play physical… That’s what we need them to be able to (do) – cause some havoc and chaos out there. That’s when they’re at their best.

They draw a big penalty late in the game –  it’ll continue to build if they keep playing the right way.”

Goaltending Stands Pat

Alexandar Georgiev deserves a nod. The front office sent a message of support backing their current goaltending solution when they didn’t prioritize getting a backup.

It was part of the conversation, but nothing worth doing came to fruition in the end.

Georgiev is aware of his situation. The team in front of him improved and he needs to meet them where they’re at.

He answered with a 29 save performance in a close game – 12 of which came on 13 high-danger opportunities. Minnesota posed a threat until the final buzzer of regulation. Georgiev had to contend with four penalty kills and Minnesota’s strong second period.

It was a great statement game from Georgiev as well.