The Winning Recipe: MacKinnon's Magic & the Emancipation of Makar

Colorado’s formula for success is pretty foolproof when they execute: get a great performance from the top players like Nathan MacKinnon, a little depth scoring, win the special teams battle, and throw in some solid goaltending.

The Colorado Avalanche concluded their series against the Chicago Blackhawks with another 5-0 shutout – this time in front of the Ball Arena crowd.

The contrast between the team’s record at home versus on the road has become a bit comical. They’re the best home team in the league with a 24-6-0 record and 16th in the league on the road.

It’s not hard to see why their record is so good at home when you have games like last night’s.

Fortunately they have a three-game homestand to self-evaluate and fixate on all the things that bring them success and hopefully build their confidence in the process.

Annunen’s Encore

Justus Annunen is the first rookie goaltender in Avs/Nordiques history to record a shutout in back-to-back appearances. He denied Connor Bedard on the breakaway in the second period and outlasted four penalty kills with 36 saves on the night.

“If he plays like that, he’s going to play a lot,” Jared Bednar said postgame.

There’s 19 games left in the season and Bednar was asked about Annunen’s expected usage moving forward.

It’s classically coy, but his growing confidence in Annunen is noteworthy.

“He looked like he picked up right where he left off in Chicago – six periods of rock solid goaltending for me,” he said. “I thought he looked sharp. He was on top of the crease. He looked huge in the net again, made some athletic saves because we had a couple the first two periods.”

With ten NHL games to his name at 23-years old, he’s still earning valuable experience and doing all of the right things with it.

From the start of training camp onward, Annunen’s been a man on a mission. It’s fair to wonder what could have been if we saw him sooner in the year if not for the lower-body injury that held him back.

Even still, Annunen continues to give Colorado a lot to consider. It’s a hard sell to promote him to backup with a playoff run in mind.

After seeing how deep in the depth chart Vegas got last year and remembering Pavel Francouz’s emergency sweep of the Western Conference final – goaltending is an entirely different beast in the postseason.

But I’m much like Jared Bednar in that respect – if he continues to play like this, I’ll gladly eat my words.

Annunen carries himself with the maturity of someone much older. He’s looked unshaken on an NHL stage despite some tough exposure (like the New Jersey game last year).

He’s not much different following a shutout win and a difficult loss, and I think that will get him very far in the organization.

He also has the support of Alexandar Georgiev beside him in all of this. Before the media could swoop in for Annunen’s postgame availability, Georgiev waddled over in a state of undress to make sure he congratulated Annunen on a job well done before anyone else.

Slump Busting

A couple players were freed from the shackles of their goal scoring droughts and quieted concerns from the peanut gallery (me).

Late in the first period Sam Girard and Zach Parise helped create havoc in the neutral zone and created a transition.

Girard nudged the puck ahead to Ross Colton to enter Chicago’s end. Colton dropped the puck back to Jonathan Drouin and Drouin wristed it to the back of the net with a lot of force. It was his first goal since January 13th.

Then in the second period, Mikko Rantanen won a battle along the boards and slipped the puck to MacKinnon in the left-circle. MacKinnon faked like he would try for the shot and sent the puck to Cale Makar instead. Makar pulled up in the slot and launched the puck with the flick of his wrist. It was his first goal in eleven games.

A look of relief washed over him and Devon Toews hurried in to pluck the monkey off his back.

In scoring, he also surpassed Tyson Barrie (232) for sole possession of the most assists by a defenseman in franchise history.

It was a solid game for Makar all around. He finished with five shots on net and two additional attempts stopped. Defensively his pair posted the best Corsi-for percentage off all the D.

Plus in his first game back since January 15th, Caleb Jones played his first NHL game opposite his brother Seth Jones and got an assist in the contest to boot.

Just Good Things

Nathan MacKinnon had another special night in Ball Arena – I’m running out of words to describe him.

He got the Avs on the board first. Makar and Artturi Lehkonen bullied Jarred Tinordi behind the net and forced a turnover. Makar escaped with the puck and got it to Toews out high and he dished it to MacKinnon. MacKinnon skated to the bottom of the right-circle and wristed the puck past Petr Mrazek.

He extended his home point streak to 30 games, the sixth longest in NHL history, and Wayne Gretzky’s perfect home record remains in sight.

He also converted on the powerplay.

Another great puck battle from Rantanen and Drouin came to his rescue to retrieve the puck from the rubble.

Drouin’s pass was nearly broken up, but it still made it to MacKinnon at the left-circle. MacKinnon’s initial attempt was stopped but he was left alone enough to collect his rebound and dish another toward the net.

It took a winding path off a Blackhawk’s body, but the goal was good.

With four-points, Nathan MacKinnon recorded his 33rd multi-point game, which is the most among all players this year and allowed him to sneak into a first play tie with Nikita Kucherov for the league-lead in points (105).

Rantanen, who received criticism in February for some apathetic efforts, also extended a seven-game point streak of his own with an assist on Makar’s goal.

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The parade to the penalty box wasn’t Colorado’s finest, but they limited their turnovers in a big way compared to their last five contests. They were more locked into their details and the results followed.