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After losing the first game of the season, the Colorado Avalanche rebounded well Friday night to blast the St. Louis Blues for their first win of the season in an 8-0 rout. It was the team everyone expected to turn up for the opener. The Avs looked great on both ends of the ice, and the best players on the team were the ones leading the way.
After a first period which kept the game tight, the floodgates opened and the Avalanche completely embarrassed the Blues on their way to a dominant victory.
First period
After a very slow start on Wednesday, the Avalanche looked much more prepared for the second game of the season. Colorado dictated the game and looked more in sync than the first time around, killing two penalties and demonstrating that they were the clearly superior team 5v5.
Without the strong play from Jordan Binnington, the Avalanche could have entered the first intermission of at least one goal. He made some solid saves, the best of which came from a formidable solo effort from Cale Makar.
The score remained tied at zero despite Avs overtaking St Louis 12-7 in the opening 20 minutes.
Second period
The Avalanche continued to build up the pressure early in the second period. They were finally able to break the deadlock four minutes after Nathan MacKinnon forced a roll before finding Gabriel Landeskog wide open in goal. The captain buried a wrist in front of Binnington to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead.
The Avs continued to dictate the game midway through the second period. MacKinnon eventually took a penalty to put the team to their second power play of the game, and this time they were able to capitalize as Andre Burakovsky scored his second PP goal of the season to extend the lead to 2-0 ; Philipp Grubauer got the assist. The Avs goalkeeper not only made a nice pass to start the game, but he escaped with a stick high on Jordan Schwartz who forced the Blues penalty killer out of the game, leading to a 5 to 3 race in the other direction.
Just two minutes later, Landeskog took a big step forward, scoring for the second time and reaching 200 career NHL goals. The floodgates officially opened as the Avalanche climbed 3-0. The only assist came from Mikko Rantanen who recorded his first point of the season.
Not to be outdone, however, Rantanen decided to take an important step. A few minutes later, with the Avalanche back on the power play, Rantanen took a nice pass from Makar and was able to convert to a big net. It was Colorado’s fourth goal and Rantanen’s 100th of career.
The Avs led the NHL in the second goal period last season, and it looks like the trend could continue into 2021, as they entered the second intermission with a 4-0 lead. Colorado ended the period with more goals (4) than the Blues had shots (3).
Third period
The Blues decided to give Binnington the rest of the night as former San Antonio Rampage goalie Ville Husso was placed between the pipes to start the third. The change in goalie didn’t change the Avs’ momentum as Colorado was able to extend the lead, scoring the third power play goal of the night just over a minute into the third quarter. This time it was Nathan MacKinnon who did what he does best, bringing the puck through the neutral zone with unmatched speed. His shot generated a long rebound on Husso, and Nazem Kadri waited to put the puck into the open net. Kadri’s first of the year gave the Avs a 5-0 lead.
The Avalanche failed to get another power play goal, but MacKinnon scored his first of the season and third of the night, after conceding an incredible assist from Makar. It’s unfair to have a player with that much speed, vision and offensive skill, and the Avalanche have two of them. The goal pushed the lead to 6-0. You won’t see a lot of prettier lenses.
Thirty seconds later, the Avs converted the touchdown as Joonas Donskoi led 7-0. At this point, do we even need the reruns?
The Avalanche didn’t happen there. Devon Toews scored his first in burgundy and blue to extend the lead to 8-0. It was the team’s fifth power play goal of the night.
Fortunately, Toews was the last of the night and, just as important, the team helped Grubauer win his first shutout of the season.
To take away
- I am starting to get used to the peacekeepers.
- Grubauer seems more than capable of being the best goalkeeper of a contending team.
- Cale Makar is really very good.
- Ryan Graves looks like he can play on the safe side when needed.
- Conversely, Brandon Saad looked much more comfortable on the left wing than on the right in the first game. Even still, he finished the game with zero points. It’s impressive in this kind of explosion.
- The power play is great – going 6v7 in the game. It’s amazing how beautiful it can be when the entire five person unit is actually healthy and in range.
- JT Compher was remarkable on the PK.
next
The Avalanche will be off over the weekend as they travel to Los Angeles for four games against the Kings and Ducks, starting Tuesday night.
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