Colorado Avalanche
Good & Bad: Makar Has 6 Points, Avalanche Stomp San Jose As Nelson Trade Unfolds
DENVER — The Avalanche scored seven goals on Thursday while the front office was in the process of adding another offensive piece.
In the midst of a 7-3 thrashing against the last-place Sharks, Colorado pulled off a whopper of a trade with the New York Islanders, acquiring center Brock Nelson in a deal involving Calum Ritchie and a first-round draft pick.
READ MORE: Avs Make Deal With Islanders for Brock Nelson
The Avalanche took advantage of the lowly Sharks, who, between morning skate and puck drop, traded two veterans off their roster and sat a third for trade-related reasons. They also took advantage of facing a goalie in Alexandar Georgiev that they saw struggle to stop pucks in the fall.
All while extending their winning streak to four games.
Colorado defeated the Sharks 7-3, and in the process, remained perfect thus far on its season-long six-game homestand.
Cale Makar had a career-high six points, scoring two goals and adding four assists. Nathan MacKinnon added two goals and three assists, while Martin Necas had a goal and an assist.
But the trade was the highlight of the night. It seemed like the bigger news than even a memorable performance from Makar.
“He’s always been a trusted 200-foot player. And if you look at his history, he’s scoring 30-plus goals most years, too,” head coach Jared Bednar said of Nelson, who he didn’t know the team had acquired until after the final buzzer sounded. “To get a player of that caliber is hard to do. It’s an amazing add for our team.”
The other Avs goals came from Joel Kiviranta and Jonathan Drouin. Mackenzie Blackwood made 31 saves to improve to 17-7-2 with Colorado. He faced 19 shots in the final frame after seeing just 15 through 40 minutes of action. Colorado entered the third period leading 5-1.
Eight minor penalties were called through the first two periods. On the first call, a hooking penalty by Necas, the Avalanche made the Sharks pay. Kiviranta entered the zone on a two-on-one, looked off the pass, and instead fired a clean wrister past Georgiev to make it 1-0.
Moments after that penalty was killed, San Jose’s Ty Dellandrea went to the box for slashing. Makar made it 2-0 with his 23rd of the year. The Sharks then answered back with a power-play goal of their own.
Power-play tallies followed for Drouin and Necas before MacKinnon finally tapped one past his former teammate. Makar and MacKinnon each added another even-strength goal in the third period.
MacKinnon ended the night with a league-leading 98 points. He’s three points away from 1,000 in his career and is inching closer to reaching the century mark for the third straight year.
Good: Magical Power-Play Goal
The highlight of the night before the Nelson trade broke was the first of three Avs power-play tallies.
With 2.1 emaining in the first period, the Avalanche scored a goal that even the phrase “tic-tac-toe” can’t fully describe.
Within the final 10 seconds, the puck went from MacKinnon to Necas, back to MacKinnon, to Lehkonen, to Necas, and then to Drouin for the goal.
Jonathan Drouin finishes off the gorgeous setup from MacKinnon, Necas, and Lehkonen for a power play goal!#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/ShrIm5fqeU
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) March 7, 2025
Bad: Sharks Front Office Hangs Team Out to Dry
It’s a business, I know. And when you’re the last-place team in a year with very few sellers, then you’ve got to take advantage. But this felt like a lot on a gameday, even for San Jose.
In short, that wasn’t the return Georgiev was hoping for when he circled this date on his calendar months ago.
Already facing an uphill battle as the goalie for the last-place Sharks, things became even harder for the former Avs starter. The Sharks traded two of their veterans, including their best defenseman, and held out one of their leaders from the lineup for trade-related reasons.
Nico Sturm, Jake Walman, and Luke Kunin were all big pieces for the Sharks in their last game, and none of them dressed in this one.
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I don’t know if it’s because he had a shark on his jersey but Georgiev swam a lot in front of his net tonight. It seems to me that he didn’t do that before.
I can believe that Nelson is a very good player. That is not the problem. But will he only be useful to the Avalanche for one, 2, 3 or 4 rounds of the playoffs? Or for 1, 2, 3 , 4 or 5 years? Don’t forget to ask MacFarland at his trade deadline press conference. We want answers… We still lost Calum Ritchie and that’s no small thing.
Won’t know for at least 3-4 years on Ritchie
That 2nd Makar goal, top corner on a wrist shot from the blue line. That sums up why Georgiev got traded. Great shot, but Georgiev’s reaction was as if it was a double deflection with 8 guys screening him.