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Takeaways from Avalanche’s latest victory, in Washington; Kadri a leading man now
WASHINGTON – So, yeah, that’s why the Colorado Avalanche traded as much as they did to get Nazem Kadri.
When he went without a goal in his first three games and didn’t show much offensive firepower otherwise, there might have been a few concerned Avs fans who wondered what all the fuss was about. The Avs did give up a quality defenseman and fan favorite, Tyson Barrie, and Alexander Kerfoot, after all.
In the last two games, Kadri has two goals and two assists and his Avs are 5-0-0 after their latest win – 6-3 Monday night here at Capital One Center.
The Avs’ second line, centered by Kadri, has quickly become a beast. We’re talking about the new second line, that is, with Joonas Donskoi and Andre Burakovsky. Since the line was formed three games ago with the injury of third-line center J.T. Compher, the trio has been a terror. Either with puck-possession in the opposing zone, winning faceoffs and/or going hard to the net and setting pesky screens, the line has been great. Kadri was the best of the three in this one, scoring a beauty of a far-post slapper from the left side and assisting on goals by Erik Johnson and Mikko Rantanen.
“I think we’ve been controlling the play in the other end of the ice and it’s only a matter of time before you get rewarded,” Kadri told Colorado Hockey Now.
Of his goal, which gave the Avs a 3-0 lead and chased starter Braden Holtby from the game, Kadri took a pass from Donskoi and ripped a slapper to the far post.
“I thought he was kind of overplaying that short side,” Kadri said. “I looked up and noticed that the far side was open, so I just tried to pick my corner.”
Kadri won 6-of-11 faceoffs (55 percent) in his 16:34 of ice time. He has yet to know what it feels like to lose a real game with the Avalanche.
“In the third, we got our mojo back and were able to close it out. In the end, that’s what matters most,” Kadri said.
OTHER NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
- J.T. Compher was placed on injured reserve, retroactive to the games he’s missed (three). Under NHL bylaws, Compher has to miss a minimum of seven days from the time of not being able to play. That means the earliest he could come back is Friday in Florida. He is on the trip.
- Andre Burakovsky, who set a great screen on Erik Johnson’s goal that opened the Avs’ scoring at 3:42, had dinner last night with some Capitals players that included Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom. He called it a “great gesture” when the Caps gave him a video tribute in the first period.
- Avs defender Sam Girard had a bit of a tough day, with the puck and physically. He was hit hard a couple of times, most especially by Alex Ovechkin. He finished out the game, however.
- Tyson Jost’s steal of Ilya Samsonov’s puck maneuver behind his own net, and subsequent feed to Matt Nieto for a goal that made it 5-2 in the third, was a huge play. The Caps had all kinds of momentum at that point, but the air went out of the building for a while with that goal.
- As you can see here, the Avs lost the puck-possession Corsi battle to Washington. But that is deceptive, because anytime a team has a 4-0 lead in hockey, they’ll sit back more in a prevent defense. Do I hate the prevent defense? Yep, but the numbers show that it usually works in the end.
- Avs will practice at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
- Nikita Zadorov scored his first goal of the year, a wicked snipe after Nathan MacKinnon stole a puck in the neutral zone and fed Big Z. It was a turnaround wrister too, a beauty.
- Rantanen quietly had a three-point day (goal, two assists). He beat Samsonov clean on a one-timer from the right side on the power play, to make it 4-0.
- Here is Jared Bednar’s postgame presser, shot by yours truly:
— Adrian Dater (@adater) October 15, 2019
