The Tape: The star trio driving Colorado's high-octane offense

362 minutes. That’s all the Three-Headed Monster played together at five on five this season, less than 11% of the Avs total time. The reason for that obviously boils down to injuries for the most part but heading into the playoffs that should be far less of an issue.

While the Avs may not go with that line all the time it’s something Jared Bednar has in his back pocket and will use as the Avs chase the asterisk. This time on The Tape we look at why the league fears the Three-Headed Monster.

Gabe Landeskog

Landeskog’s head is the most unique of the three on this monster. He provides a different style of hockey than either MacKinnon or Rantanen. Offensively he is for the most part option number three, tasked with doing the dirty work and making room for the other two to do their thing. At the same time, he is the most defensively responsible of the three and is relied upon to allow MacK and Rants to open it up quite a bit more on the breakout. Without a doubt, Landy is the most physically engaged and is always willing to take a hit to make the play. You better believe the big guns know Landy is making them look good on plays like this.

For all that talk of responsibility Landy is basically guaranteed to give the Avs a 20-goal season every year. Particularly over the last two campaigns, Landy has scored more than a few goals without even looking at the net. He’s no Joe Pavelski but his tip game has really come on strong and gives the Avs and particularly MacKinnon the confidence to fire away when he is standing in front of the crease.

Landeskog isn’t going to provide ridiculous highlight after ridiculous highlight (though he does have some pretty ones). He’s going to go out there and give you a steady top-end player night after night. Whether it’s cleaning up a rebound goal, making a simple smart pass perfectly to the tape, or just straight blowing somebody up he fills in the gaps on the best line in hockey.

Plus he has fire penalty box chirps.

Nathan MacKinnon

A slew of absurd highlight clips would probably be more than enough to show why MacKinnon is a Ted Lindsay and likely Hart Trophy finalist in the league but for the Avs, his importance goes far beyond just producing points. His zone entries are obscene, whether it’s skating full blast backing off the D and sniping or battling through three sticks to break through and set up a teammate. When MacKinnon decides he wants to cross the blueline everyone else on the ice just has to sit and watch.

Do you remember that GEICO commercial with Nicklas Backstrom scoring 15 goals in 15 seconds? I’m betting MacKinnon could do about double that. MacKinnon has become one of the premier volume shooters in the league up there with Ovechkin and with that he has discovered the ability to score from pretty much anywhere.

One-timer from the circle. Check.

Walk-in wrister. Check.

Floater from the point. Check.

Back door tap-in. Check.

Whatever the hell this is. Check.

At this point in his career, MacKinnon has established himself as an elite point producer year in and year out. That’s more than enough to put him at the top of the league but this year we also saw significant gains in his defensive play. Funnily enough, the rounding out of MacK’s game actually makes the three-headed monster more separable but when you want best on best it’s another small little edge the Avs can find. Here you can see MacK reading plays deep in his own zone, breaking up a seam pass, and denying a sure goal with a nice stick lift.

MacKinnon proved he can be a monster regardless of the linemates you put him with. When you throw him out there with other NHL All-Stars, that’s where the magic happens.

Mikko Rantanen

Right off the top Rantanen has one of the best backhanders in the league. Where some players would struggle to flip a wrist shot over the pad in tight, Mikko is seemingly able to defy gravity by going bar down at an obscene angle with the convex side of his stick blade.

The other side of his stick is no slouch either. The Avs have moved away from this quite a bit this season having other shooters like Burakovsky and Mackinnon’s quest to shoot every puck he touches, but Mikko has a fantastic one-timer as well.

The goal-scoring is of course crucial but where Mikko really clicks as part of the three-headed monster is his vision and passing ability. He is quickly becoming one of the biggest threats in the league from behind the net with his uncanny knack for hitting the perfect saucer pass to a man crashing the crease.

More impressive on a nightly basis is his puck poise. With the puck on his stick, Mikko is never in a hurry, allowing the play to develop around him waiting for the right opening at the right moment. When it comes he fires a pass crisp and clean right to the intended target and they usually have all the time in the world to do whatever they want.

 

All this in a six-foot-four, 220-pound package, which he is still figuring out how to use.

The Three-Headed Monster

By their powers combined the Avs morph into Captain Planet and become a seemingly unstoppable force in the right conditions. Someday I hope to discover the words to describe that feeling you get when you know something special is about to happen, whatever you call it, that’s the feeling you have a lot when those three step on the ice together, and when you add Cale Makar to that mix it just starts to get silly.