Offensive floodgates open as Avalanche bury Coyotes in series sweep

In the COVID world, postgame pressers have become an even bigger dumping ground of cliche answers and rinse and repeat questions. When going through what Colorado had to say about tonight’s 6-2 win over Arizona, very little stuck out.

There was a lot you expected (Tyson Jost said his first goal “felt awesome”, for example), some was a little nonchalant (Gabe Landeskog had Peter Forsberg posters growing up so tying his goals total with the Avs was “cool”), and not everything was positive (Cale Makar likely won’t play against San Jose in either game), but overall you have a good feeling going into a presser what you’re going to get (Landeskog answering a question in Swedish was a nice change of pace though!).

To change things up, I took in the presser from the opposite side to get a feel for how the other side felt about a one-sided series that was all too reminiscent of the playoff matchup these two teams went through last summer.

“They’re a great team and move the puck well, they’re always up in the ice,” Coyotes forward Clayton Keller said. “We stuck with it for the first two periods. They got one late there, but I think they won more battles. They played the right way, it’s tough to swallow. We all got to be better myself included.”

Keller’s second-period goal made the game 1-1 and gave everyone the nerves like the Coyotes might steal this thing despite Colorado outshooting Arizona 20-6 in the second period alone. The Jacob MacDonald wraparound goal gave the Avs the well-deserved lead heading into the third period.

Arizona captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson was similarly complimentary of the Avalanche while being a little more introspective.

“We’re playing against a good team,” Ekman-Larsson said. “We are not going to take that away, but at the same time we have to be able to put a full sixty minutes together and have a little bit more urgency out there…making plays and battling. We haven’t had that in a while.”

And finally, head coach Rick Tocchet, whose pressers during the playoffs last year I found to be entertaining and unusually forthright. Tonight, however, his only real message centered around one thing: effort.

“I thought we played hard tonight,” Tocchet said and would re-iterate several more times. “It was hard to sustain. They’re a good hockey club. There were pockets of the game where the MacKinnon line had the puck in our end and they’re very talented. One of the best lines in the league, but for the most part, I thought guys really tried. They worked hard.”

A lot of regular coachspeak there but when the opposing head coach doesn’t offer any criticisms of his own club and simply maintains a message of how hard they worked, it gives off an air of hopelessness.

To be honest, watching these two games between these two clubs (while also keeping in mind the playoff series they went through), it would be fair to say that Arizona simply doesn’t want to see this Avalanche team again anytime soon.

The scores of their last four games have been 7-1, 7-1, 3-2 (with the two goals coming in the final two minutes of the game) and 6-2. Shots on goal in those four games were 136-82, or an average of 34-20.5.

This isn’t a particularly close or evenly matched two teams right now. The Coyotes cannot matchup.

And that was before Colorado’s depth players all decided to get off the scoring snide against them in the third period. J.T. Compher got an assist and suddenly has two points in his last three games after two in his first 15. Tyson Jost and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare both got their first goals of the year with Bellemare’s also being his first point of the season. Ryan Graves and Val Nichushkin each added assists.

All of that disregards the production from the guys you’d expect, with Gabe Landeskog getting his first point in his last six games with the goal to put Colorado ahead 3-1, Mikko Rantanen and Sam Girard chipping in two assists, and Nathan MacKinnon getting it all started with a lightning release and perfect shot for the game’s first goal.

The Avs used this Arizona series to continue playing the way they wanted while also producing the results they wanted. This was a classic “get right” series. The Coyotes wrapped up a nine-game homestand by getting absolutely waxed in front of a “sellout crowd” of 3,224, approximately 3,000 of whom sounded like they were cheering for the Avalanche.

Colorado continues the four-game road trip by heading to San Jose for two apparently Makar-less games on Monday and Wednesday before beginning a lengthy homestand.

TAKEAWAYS

• This was exactly how you wanted to see the Avs handle their business in Arizona. Two games they pretty thoroughly dominated and two relatively comfortable results outside of two chaotic minutes at the end of the first game. Just an overall dominant effort. It should serve as a reminder to Colorado’s doubters that the talent on this team is a legitimate advantage going into most games, even with an injury or two. It doesn’t always play to its potential but when it does, watching it blow another NHL team off the ice like they did the last 48 hours is still damn impressive. The key is consistency, of course, as now they have to try to extend their 2-0 season series lead on San Jose.
• I know others disagree but this is my space so I’m proclaiming my love for the Arizona reverse retro jerseys. I loved the concept when they were originally released and I love seeing them on the ice. If I was a more serious collector, I’d strongly consider buying one because I love them like that.
• Arizona might have been credited with four goals in these two games but the second goal in each game was a great break for the Coyotes as each went in off an Avalanche player. Last night, it was a puck glancing in off the skate of Ryan Graves and tonight it was Brandon Saad playing sound defensive hockey getting his stick on the pass for the perfect re-direct. Even when the Avs were living right, they still got the short end of a few things along the way.
• Make sure you’re checking out our brand new shirt drop!