The Colorado Avalanche prospect pool looked every bit as deep as advertised on Saturday, as the young Avs rolled to a 7-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks in Rookie Faceoff action at Tech CU Arena in San Jose. T.J. Hughes and Alex Gagne both finished with multi-point nights.
The headline performance belonged to Gagne, who capped a goal and two assist effort with a fight, completing a Gordie Howe hat trick. Hughes chipped in two assists, while Beckett Hamilton and Cooper Gay each finished with a goal and an assist. Makar, Shawn Carrier, Kalder Varga, and Matthew DiMarsico rounded out the scoring with a goal apiece.
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Makar put the Avalanche on the board at 3:03 of the first period when third-round pick Beckett Hamilton executed a beautiful behind-the-back pass to Makar, who was in the right place at the right time and snapped a shot past Anaheim netminder Damian Clara to give the Avs the early lead.
Just over two minutes later, T.J. Hughes carried the puck into the Ducks’ zone on a 3-on-1 and stickhandled through traffic before feeding Hamilton at the back door for a slick finish, doubling Colorado’s lead. Anaheim answered immediately, though, as Cruz Lucius outsmarted Ilya Nabokov in front of the net to cut the deficit.
Past the midpoint of the period, Matthew DiMarsico, who signed with the Avalanche out of Penn State last season, ripped one past Clara to restore the two-goal cushion, making it 3-1.
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The Avalanche later killed off a four-minute high-sticking penalty on Makar, with Ilya Nabokov turning aside a string of highlight-reel saves, including a sprawling glove stop on Ducks forward Rian Chudzinski.
Colorado carried a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.
The second period brought more of the same for the Avalanche, who tacked on three more goals. Cooper Gay made a gorgeous move through the neutral zone to set up Shawn Carrier for a tap-in, camp invite Kalder Varga scored off a feed from Alex Gagne, and Gagne added one of his own with a blast from the point.
Anaheim’s lone response came when Noah Kosick poked a puck past Nabokov, but it was otherwise a dominant frame for Colorado. The Ducks had their moments offensively, yet were largely stifled by Nabokov, who came up with a handful of impressive stops over the 20 minutes.
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Tobias Tvrznik took over in net for Ilya Nabokov to begin the third period. However, the Ducks left Clara in net.
Just over nine minutes into the third period, Gay ripped home a rebound that trickled to the right circle, beating a sprawling Clara to make it a 7-2 game.
The Avalanche rookies will wrap up the Rookie Faceoff with a matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights at 2 p.m. MDT.
The Avs-Ducks game was originally scheduled to start at 2 p.m. MDT but was delayed by over an hour due to a scheduling “miscommunication.”
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