DENVER, CO — It was first vs. worst tonight at Ball Arena, and we were in the barn to offer live and in-depth coverage!
The Avalanche would go at it without stud-defender Cale Makar, who sustained an upper-body injury in Colorado’s last contest against the Calgary Flames.
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Vancouver came to town looking to get back into the win column after dropping their last six games. It was a team with a -90 goal differential vs. a team with a +93 goal differential. What could go wrong?
Turns out the answer to that question was a lot, with Vancouver establishing an early lead, netting a shorthanded goal, then full-on taking over, averaging three goals a period through two frames and holding off Colorado’s third-period comeback effort to walk out of Ball Arena with 2 points.
The Game
The puck dropped, and twenty-nine seconds later, Max Sasson would net a goal for the Canucks that beat Blackwood via the five-hole.
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It would take just about a minute for Nathan MacKinnon to announce his arrival as he hit the brakes upon entry, watched a Canuck lose his skates and fly by, before creating enough space to rip home a wrister. MacKinnon’s tally would make 50 on the season and put him just one goal shy of his previous career high of 51 goals.
The Avalanche would get its first power play of the evening, but it only resulted in the worst-case scenario. Vancouver would take a 2-1 lead after the Avalanche allowed the 13th shorthanded goal against.
The Canucks would find another way to score this time on a power play of their own. Jake DeBrusk was left all alone in the slot and logged his 17th of the season, with 14 of those coming on the power play. Just like that, it was 3-1 Canucks.
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Frustration among the fanbase started to set in, but Gabe Landeskog would ease the pain after he deflected Brent Burns’ point shot past Kevin Lankinen, bringing his side back to within one goal at 3-2 Vancouver.
The period would end with Vancouver on the power play, and Colorado would kill the first 26 seconds and head to the locker room.
The second period would start with Colorado killing off the rest of Vancouver’s man-advantage, but that wouldn’t stop the Canucks from extending their lead to two goals after Teddy Blueger was alone in front and beat Blackwood via the five-hole yet again to bring the score to 4-2 in favor of the visitors.
Nick Blankenburg was thrust into the lineup tonight with Cale Makar tending to his wounds and had a tough night.
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He sank too deeply to the point where he was into the crease, and Blackwood, who couldn’t do anything to stop what basically turned into a screened two-on-none. Brock Boeser would log that tally, and another five minutes later, bringing the score to a whopping 6-2 Canucks.
Finally, Jared Bednar pulled MacKenzie Blackwood.
Sam Malinski would get one back for Colorado before the second period ended. Vancouver challenged for goalie interference, but the challenge was unsuccessful despite Jack Drury making contact with Kevin Lankinen outside the blue paint.
We’d head to the second intermission at 6-3 Canucks.
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We did have a little scare right before the second period let out, with Martin Necas getting hit away from the play and going down in a heap. He would stay down and immediately head off to the room despite the remaining time in the period.
Fortunately, he would return for the third period, but seemed to be reaching for his wrist, which has been an area of concern this season.
The Avalanche wouldn’t go quietly into the night.
Scott Wedgewood was asked if this game felt out of reach before the third, and he responded, “Never with this team.”
Parker Kelly would log his 19th of the season just 116 seconds into the third and final frame, and the comeback and whale watch were on! It was a two-goal game at 6-4 with essentially the entire third period left for the Avalanche to mount a comeback.
Next, it was Brent Burns’ turn as his point one timer, assisted by Brock Nelson, went straight in, and the tide officially had shifted.
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It was Sam Malinski who set Ball Arena off with his game-tying goal (6-6) with just over five minutes left in the game. Unfortunately, that goal would quickly be answered by Vancouver’s Marcus Pettersson, who gave Vancouver a 7-6 lead.
Colorado did make a push to get things under control in this game, and had they started as they finished, they would have beaten the Canucks handily.
Takeaways
The slow start tonight should have been more anticipated, as it’s typical for a team to come out flat after putting up 5 plus goals in the first half of a period. That said, there’s no excuse for starting so poorly against the league’s worst team and giving up a shorthanded goal to a historically bad penalty kill unit.
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It was pretty clear that the freedom of having nothing to play for benefited the Canucks, who likely had no problem getting up to play the best team in the league. In a season where you are -90 in goal differential, you have to take it game by game, and tonight, Vancouver passed the test.
This wasn’t a great performance by the Avalanche defensively, but MacKenzie Blackwood also looked a little lost at times. It’s feeling more and more clear that Scott Wedgewood is the number one goalie in Colorado these days.
When Bednar was asked if he was concerned with not knowing who the starter is so close to playoff time, he quickly snapped, “No.”
It’s been abundantly clear that Colorado can ill afford to lose a defender from its group of six, as Nick Blankenburg hasn’t looked great and, in a game against the league’s worst team, struggled. I don’t know that the Avalanche have a set-and-forget 7D.
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Jared Bednar was clearly not pleased in the post-game presser and made no excuses for his club. When asked what went wrong, he responded, “The list is too long.”
Brock Nelson had an item that likely landed on the list, saying, “Couple unfortunate bounces where they end up with two-on-ones with some pretty clear looks that we’d like to not give up.”
Upcoming
The Avalanche will head to Dallas for a matinee contest against Mikko Rantanen and the Stars on Saturday.
Let us know what you thought of this contest in the comments!
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