Scott column: Avs offense finally punches though in Game 4 statement win

Monday night was what we’ve all been waiting for. 

It was a fairly frustrating first three games of the series and we haven’t seen the domination and buzz we saw on a near-nightly basis from this Avs team during the regular season. Most of that is a credit to a stingy defense-first Arizona team. Even more credit belongs to Darcy Kuemper, who can steal games from teams, just as he did to the Avalanche in Game 3. 

Monday felt like it had to be a response game. A loss by the Avalanche meant two straight wins for Arizona and a brand new series tied at two games apiece, with all of the momentum howling the Coyotes’ way. The Avalanche weren’t going to let that be an option.

Colorado has looked out of sorts and discombobulated at times throughout the series and appeared to run into a hot goalie, and those can be lethal this time of year, you know. But the Avalanche of Game 4 looked like a team that has every intention of leaving Edmonton with Stanley Cup in tow, and if they keep turning in performances like they did on Monday, they very well might.

“Hungry” was the adjective Matt Calvert used after the game to describe the Avs effort on Monday night. “Desperation” and “purpose” are two words head coach Jared Bednar used after the game to describe the effort he wanted to see from his guys to start Game 4, which is exactly what he got from his group on Monday night.

“We wanted to bounce back and get back on track in the type of effort we had Game 1,” Bednar said. “…I thought we did a nice job. We were skating and supporting the puck well and there was good work ethic to it and pace to it.

“The message was clean up a couple of the mental errors we made in Game 3 and continue to push and play on our toes, and our guys did that. We had a real good night.”

For us media that cover this Avalanche team, and for you who watch this team night-in and night-out, we know what they’re capable of. The back-and-forth and low-scoring nature of this series is not the brand of hockey the Avs are used to playing. It has left a few question marks and some frustration about whether or not the Avs high-octane offense would be able to punch through Kuemper and the stingy Arizona defense. 

Monday night was Colorado’s coming-out party.

“We got to stay with it, as cliche as it sounds,” Bednar said. “The more shot opportunities you can create, the better chances you have to score…I like the stick-to-itiveness of our group and just trying to not overcomplicate it because Kuemper’s been so good in the series. I think you got to continue to shoot the puck and get bodies there.”

“We didn’t change anything honestly,” Nathan MacKinnon said of his team that finally exposed the seemingly unbeatable Kuemper. “We know we’re one of the best goal-scoring teams in the league this year. We just have to stick with it. We’re such a deep team that it was eventually gonna go in.”

MacKinnon and Co. — and Nazem Kadri — chased Kuemper out of the net by second intermission on Monday, putting four behind him for the first time all series, and part of that was the unrelenting presence of MacKinnon. He played like a man-scorned in what was his best game since entering the Edmonton bubble. He extended his point streak to seven games, received high-praise all night from the NBC broadcast crew and proved he’s a force not to be reckoned with…just ask Christian Fischer, who got tossed around by MacKinnon like a Raggedy Ann Doll in the hands of an unruly three year old. 

“Our big boys were good,” Bednar said after the game. And that they were. 

The Avalanche are unquestionably the better team this series. You and I both know that, national media knows it, Arizona knows it, too. The thing is though, that matters very little in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The playing field is level this time of year. A loss last night would have certainly taken the wind out of the sails of this Avalanche team, and confidence is everything in the postseason, just ask Darcy Kuemper.

Game 4 was a statement win and the Avalanche now carry a commanding 3-1 series lead — and all of the much-needed momentum — with them into Game 5. Colorado’s coming-out party in Game 4 reaffirmed what we all knew about this Avalanche team and what they’re capable of and why they’re one of the odds-on favorites to win the Stanley Cup. If the Avs can consistently show the effort we saw in Game 4, well, I’ll see you at Civic Center Park in Denver for the championship parade.