The Tape: Avs best of 2020

The year that no one wanted is finally over. While the majority of 2020 is better left in the rearview, it wasn’t all bad on the ice. On this edition of The Tape, we look back at some of the best plays made by the Avs last season.

1. Depth dominance. We start with a little reminder that even a fourth-line player could absolutely pants everyone in your local beer league on a regular basis. The pit boss must be ready to throw Pierre-Edouard Bellemare out of the casino at this point because he just has Vegas’ number. On the two clips below Bellemare rolls in and makes bonified NHL defenders look like swiss cheese with some puck-handling skill and then beats the goalie clean.

2. Nashville Nine. Revenge on Matt Duchene is a game Avs fans won’t soon forget. While it’s hard to distill this down to just one clip, Joonas Donskoi going coast to coast to complete the hat trick for the final Avs goal of the game does a pretty good job summing it up.

3. Nova Scotia Strength. The mind-boggling highlights are coming in a bit. First, let’s appreciate how much of a tank Nathan MacKinnon is. Deep in the offensive zone along boards with a man pestering him, MacKinnon is not only able to maintain clean possession of the puck, but he’s also able to outmuscle and outwork his defender to the point of falling over. This opens up plenty of space for his ridiculous skill and hockey sense to take over and provide Burakovsky an absolute freebie of a goal.

4. The Big Moose Special. Rantanen has a few of these every year but it’s still beautiful to watch. I do not envy any defender on Mikko behind their own net; he seems to have magical powers when it comes to getting pucks out into the slot. Arguably the best saucer passer in the game today but more on that later. For now, enjoy trying to comprehend Mikko’s accuracy with this pass.

5. Cale Makar.  Yep.

6. Goalies.  I’m not even going to try to break down some of the best saves of the year for the Avs, just watch this clip and hold on tight.

7. Curse Breaker.  Without context, this clip doesn’t even come close to making a best-of list. It’s a nice rebound cleanup goal after the initial shot hit the post, and even then the shot was nearly stopped. Then you realize it was Val Nichushkin who put it in, a man who at the time hadn’t score an NHL goal in 92 games spanning about four years. Val went on to score 12 more times this year so safe to say this one lifted the curse.

8. Rule #1.  Get the puck to Nathan MacKinnon. Good things will happen. Or if he has to, he will just take it from his own teammate.

9. Face Puncher.  After Joonas Donskoi took a dirty hit to the head, Nazem Kadri wasn’t having any of it. Ryan Lindgren had no idea what was coming to him as a full red mist Kadri closed the distance and unleashed a barrage of fists leading to injury that would ultimately serve as Lindgren’s suspension for the hit.

10. Sauce Boss. Nathan MacKinnon was on a different plane of existence in the playoffs. Going on a ridiculous point streak and at times single-handedly carrying the Avs. When you throw in Mikko Rantanen having a good night, they start to do things that seem to defy the laws of reality. Someone ordered a pizza but it ended up being oops all sauce.

11. Transcendent. The one moment from this season that will stand the test of time for the Avs, and perhaps in all of sports. Nazem Kadri’s game-winning goal in the Avs’ first playoff game in the bubble. Estimated to have less than .04 seconds on the clock it is the latest regulation game-winning goal ever scored, a record that is unlikely to be broken…ever. All of the plays I’ve clipped from this season, this will be the one I never forget.