Adrian Dater
EDMONTON, ALBERTA – If the Colorado Avalanche keeps playing like this, members of their 51-person traveling party who aren’t Canadian citizens already might want to consider applying for dual citizenship. If they do, they’re gonna be here a good while.
The Avs chewed up and spit out the Dallas Stars 4-0 on Wednesday afternoon before me and an approximate crowd of three or four others at Rogers Place. The Western Conference round-robin victory gives the Avs a 2-0-0 record so far and a big leg up on the first overall seed in the conference when the actual, real playoffs start on or about Aug. 11.
“We want home-ice. It’s been a goal of ours,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said after the win.
Wait, the coach knows there’s no such thing as home-ice advantage in this dystopian postseason, right? Hey, the Avs have looked as comfortable as Goldilocks in the Three Bears’ house so far anyway, and there’s always that last-change advantage to any “home” team in these playoffs.
The Avs got goals from Cale Makar, Joonas Donskoi, Vladislav Namestnikov and Andre Burakovsky, while Pavel Francouz was perfect in his first career NHL postseason start of any kind.
The Avs were great throughout, but the tape of the third period should go to the Hockey Hall of Fame immediately as one of the most perfect 20 minutes of hockey ever played. The Avs were up 2-0 entering the third – still a hockey game. But after starting the period on the power play, with Namestnikov capitalizing on a putback of a Nathan MacKinnon shot and rebound, the Avs poured it on even more. The final could have easily been 8-0, as the Avs simply toyed with Dallas in that third.
Makar, whose slap-shot power-play goal early in the first got the party started, said the Avs got more confident as the game went along. Makar’s shot was a true beauty, a one-timer from about 50 feet to the top right of goalie Anton Khudobin.
That, folks, was all Francouz needed. Frankie said he was a little “scared” at not having played any really meaningful hockey in several minutes, but it sure didn’t look it. Besides, some guys need to play scared to be at their best.
So, who’s that No. 1 goalie entering the first round, coach?
“It’s a good problem to have,” Bednar said.
BIT AND PIECES
- Matt Nieto played on the fourth line, at left wing, with Matt Calvert and P.E. Bellemare. Tyson Jost took the warmup, but was a scratch. Nieto played well, I thought, nearly scoring a goal in the second period.
- Mark Barberio skated during warmups too, but didn’t play.
- Dallas took some bad penalties that made life easier for the Avs, especially one with 11.2 seconds left in the second period. Any time you can essentially have an 18-minute period to hold a lead instead of 20 is a good thing for a hockey team. The Avs made the Stars pay with a great PP to open the third, with Vladislav Namestnikov getting the goal. Namestnikov cleaned up some loose change around the net after Nathan MacKinnon blasted a shot on net.
- Francouz was tested pretty good in the first period, as Dallas got 13 shots on him. His best save of the period – and the game – was a point-blank stop on Jamie Benn, who had a one-timer in the paint but Francouz gloved it.
- Bednar, on why he flipped Namestnikov with Burakovsky on their respective previous lines: “I’ve talked with Burky, and he’s played OK but…not quite to the intensity level that I want us to have this time of year.” He praised Burky’s play today though, saying he “stepped up.”
- There were no injuries to report from the Avs’ side. That doesn’t mean something might not pop up still after the fact. But I haven’t been told of anything.
- The Avs caught another good break entering this game when Stars goalie Ben Bishop and Jack Klingberg were deemed unfit to play.
Here are some game highlights: