AVS LIVE: Second period analysis vs. San Jose

When it rains it pours, I suppose. For the Avs, this was certainly the case in the second period.

The period started as the first ended for the Avs. Despite an early Brandon Saad penalty, Val Nichushkin picked off a San Jose defender to give Colorado a 4-1 lead 90 seconds into the middle frame.

By the five minute mark of the period, the Avs chased Sharks goalie Martin Jones after Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored his first goal of the season to make it 5-1. It was a smart play by Tyson Jost to quickly pull up, circle back and feed it to Sam Girard.

And sheesh. Suddenly a 1-0 deficit turned into five unanswered.

This is the Avalanche team that we are more familiar with — the favorites, or whatever. 

A short time later, a lazy backcheck by Val Nichushkin — and Erik Johnson briefly losing his man — briefly cut the Avs deficit to 5-2. But the Avalanche would add two more on a Devon Toews goal, followed by Brandon Saad’s second of the game.

The former now has three goals and five points through his first 6 and 2/3 game as an Avalanche. The later appears to be shedding the monkey off his back a little, after receiving some criticism from his coach earlier this morning. Let’s not sleep on the nice pass from Andre Burakovsky on that one, too.

Should be smooth-sailing from here out, right?