This has been a rollercoaster season for the Colorado Avalanche to say the least. Long winning streaks, equally long losing streaks, and injuries galore. In fact, heading into Wednesday’s tilt with the Vegas Golden Knights, the Avalanche were dealing with a few things.
They learned that forward Jonathan Drouin may be out for a while. Simultaneously, they had to get over an absolute beating at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning in which Brandon Hagel made team history with five assists.
Facing a very good Vegas team, the Avalanche managed to have one of their better defensive efforts of the season. The result was a 2-1 win in a shootout, powered by the recently returned Valeri Nichushkin. Let’s get to the takeaways.
Great Team Defense Effort
When your team has Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar, it’s easy to focus on the offensive side of things. Having said that, the Avalanche may have had their best defensive effort of the season against one of the very best offenses in the NHL.
The 10 shots the Golden Knights mustered in the first period would be the most they’d have in any one frame on the night. In fact, the Avalanche almost completely shut them down in the second (four shots) and third periods (five shots). If not for a Pavel Dorofeyev goal, it would have been a perfect effort.
Given how quiet MacKinnon has been of late, it’s good to see that the Avalanche can win without totally relying on their big stars. Given all of the injury woes to begin the season, they have had to really play team hockey to get the job done.
Nate Dogg’s Slump Continues
Speaking of MacKinnon, his play of late has been concerning, to say the least. He’s on the ice more than most defensemen and played an insane 27:05 against the Golden Knights on Wednesday. That said, it was his second straight game with no points and his fourth over his last six games.
Related: Nathan MacKinnon Passes Michel Goulet for 4th-Most Games Played in Avalanche History
It’s hard to be critical of MacKinnon. After all, his 35 points are still second in the NHL. He went on such a tear, including a stretch where he had 13 points in five games, that it’s hard to find fault in him for having a quiet spell.
Perhaps it’s a situation where MacKinnon is struggling to find his game because he’s a bit burnt out from carrying the team through the first six weeks of the season. Maybe it’s just one of those slumps that even the best of the best suffer from. Hopefully, he can find his way back to dominance soon.
The Nuke is Loose
On the other side of the spectrum is Nichushkin. Since returning from suspension on Nov. 15 against the Washington Capitals, the big Russian winger appears to have finally begun finding his game and it could not have come at a better time.
He went off in a 7-4 win over the defending champion Florida Panthers, tallying a goal and two assists for his first points since returning. He had an assist in the ugly loss against the Lightning and scored both the only regulation goal and the shootout winner against the Golden Knights.
This is how the Avalanche will survive downswings from their big guns. Nichushkin is a vital part of this forward group and it has showed. When the rest of the lineup finally gets healthy, it will just make the Avalanche that much better and more dangerous in the process.
The Schedule Is Brutal
Unfortunately for the Avalanche, this is just the beginning of a brutal stretch of games. In the next six, the Avalanche have the Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers, Buffalo Sabres (currently in a playoff spot!), Carolina Hurricanes, and New Jersey Devils.
The only good news is that both the Stars and Winnipeg Jets have slowed down. The Avalanche are tied with the Stars for third in the Central Division, which could be argued as the toughest division in hockey. There’s a lot of hockey to be played and the slate is going to get tougher from here.
