Takeaways from Colorado's win over Dallas

The Colorado Avalanche returned home from a three-game road trip out west that saw them win all three games, the last two blowouts. Their Pepsi Center return was against the Dallas Stars, who also played last night, and the result was a first period of two tired teams trading soft body. Zero goals were scored and just 12 shots made it on goal (six for each team).

The second period was a little more eventful with the Avalanche dropping 12 shots on goal and Dallas producing eight. The only goal was scored by Nathan MacKinnon as he one-timed a beautiful cross-ice feed from Mikko Rantanen past Stars goaltender Anton Khudobin. Gabriel Landeskog picked up the extra assist because of course he did.

The game lacked the intensity of even a regular season game until the final five minutes when Dallas took a 2-1 on a Jamie Benn goal. The Avalanche responded with two late goals of their own, the first from J.T. Compher and the game-winning goal from Rantanen. Colorado moved to 6-0-1 since their five-game losing streak.

More takeaways from the game

• It didn’t result in a goal but Tyson Jost showed great patience in the first period when he held the puck in the corner and fired a tape-to-tape pass to Colin Wilson. Wilson had a defender draped all over him so it ended up not doing anything but that kind of pass shows you Jost’s recent scoring surge is no joke. He’s playing at a very high level right now.
• Sam Girard made some real shaky plays with the puck in this one. His turnover on a power play in the second period produced a two-on-one for Dallas that ultimately was turned away but it’s the kind of mistake that really makes you scratch your head. Of course, he also had a beautiful play in the offensive zone that almost led to the game’s first goal.
• There was a sequence in the second period that was a really good example of why Matt Nieto finds his way into the lineup every night. He won a contested puck in the neutral zone, got it deep into the offensive zone, won the subsequent foot race to the puck, won the position battle with the defenseman, and after a scrum in the corner came away with the puck and made a nice pass from the corner to the point, where the defenseman was able to get a shot off. That’s just good, hard-nosed hockey.
• On the other side of the fourth line coin, Vladislav Kamenev missed an open Nieto in front of the Dallas net, hung on to the puck too long, and eventually turned it over with the Avalanche failing to get a shot on. Given the playmaking we’ve seen from him, you expect him to make that pass but he just missed the read on that one.
• I really liked the defense from Nikita Zadorov in the first period. The Stars weren’t able to generate much offense early on and Zadorov’s aggressive defending was a factor in their ineffectiveness in the first period. Zadorov was playing with an attacking mindset and that’s always when he’s at his best.
• I almost don’t want to say anything about it because I do every game but Colorado’s top line continues to be special. Like so special it’s becoming routine and expected. Their work on the goal by Nathan MacKinnon in the second period was just immaculate. It was every player doing what he does best. Their game-winning goal was just more of the same raw dominance. Avs fans are extremely lucky to have these guys to watch every night.
• I’m not even sure what to say about J.T. Compher right now. He scored three goals in his first five games, missed 16 games, and scored three in his first two games back. His goal tonight was pure heart and hustle. He’s showing just what a big loss his injury really was.
• The power play was blistering hot all week so I won’t make much of a deal about it tonight but it was basically non-existent. In what was a low-event game until chaos broke out in the final ten minutes, their ineptitude on the power play could have been the key point in a loss.
• It’s encouraging to see Colorado finding different ways to win games. They’ve come from behind early in games, dominated games, and now a late comeback win added to their resume. The more situations they find success in, the more they’re going to figure out that very few teams should beat them on any given night.
• The win tonight puts Colorado on pace for a 106-point season.