10 Observations: A Fight, Two Assists and Josh Manson Owning the Night (+)

In his fifth season with the Avalanche, Josh Manson is as effective as he’s ever been since being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks. At least that’s what it seems like through the first 34 games.

Against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday, we got a little bit of everything from Manson. He recorded a third-period assist on what stood as the game-winning goal from Parker Kelly after recording the primary helper on Brent Burns’ opening tally. And in between the two, he was a physical force, laying big hits, breaking up plays, and fighting — and handling — Tanner Pearson in the second period.

“He’s an animal. He’s so important for this team when he can step up like that,” Martin Necas said.

It wasn’t the first time we’ve seen him impact a game like this. It also won’t be the last. In fact, in Colorado’s last game, Manson started a melee with Mason Marchment behind the net early in the third period, and it likely sparked what ended up being a come-from-behind victory over the Seattle Kraken.

Manson has always been a fan favorite. Unfortunately for him and the Avalanche, injuries haven’t always allowed him to be this guy. This is the full Manson experience.

All he was missing was a goal to complete the highly regarded Gordie Howe Hat Trick.

Still, all anyone wanted to talk about was Manson’s impact on arguably the most physical Avalanche game we’ve seen this season.

READ MORE: The Aftermath: Avalanche Outmuscle Jets To Extend Home Winning Streak at Ball Arena

10 Observations

1. It starts with being healthy. Manson knows it. His coach knows it. Manson can’t be as effective when he’s out of the lineup, or when he’s playing but limited. Manson missed 55, six, and 34 games, respectively, in each of his first three full seasons in Colorado.

“I think just feeling healthy,that’s been nice. I feel like I’ve also had pretty decent jump compared to other years,” Manson told me. “I’m critical of my game, obviously, and there are a lot of plays out there that I want back. So I’m not getting head over heels on anything. But just playing solid and trying to be reliable. I think that’s the biggest word to use, is just be reliable.”

2. Reliable he was. Manson made a nice hit along the boards on Cole Perfetti and had to answer for it. He said he wasn’t looking for a fight, but obviously isn’t going to turn one down.

Tanner Pearson skated up behind him and said something to him, then both of their gloves came off at the same time. They started swinging, and Manson landed more, taking Pearson down and landing a few more while they were both on the ice. It was an epic, spirited fight.

3. Should there have been an instigator on the play for Pearson? Sure looked like it. Pearson was completely outmatched in that fight, but he still started it after Manson laid a clean hit.

4. There were a lot of Manson questions in every media scrum after this game. Necas was asked about him by another reported, and I asked Parker Kelly in the other scrum. They all love what No. 42 brings to the table.

That’s a guy, when healthy, as we’ve seen, that you can’t truly put a value on by just looking at his stats. And mind you he still had two assists.

“He’s an absolute animal. A warrior,” Kelly told me. “He’s willing to lay his body on the line for the guys, lays a big head. The guy doesn’t really give him a choice to go but he’s probably one of the toughest guys in the league.

“Anytime someone fights, especially Josh, gives us a spark and something we can draw, draw from. He’s laying his body in line so least we can do is go out and try to ramp it up a bit for him.”

5. Bednar was asked about Manson twice. The first was simply if this was the best he’s seen from Manson in the 4+ years he’s been here. The second, which was my follow up, was specifically what he’s seeing specifically that’s making Manson look so much better

Bednar didn’t agree that two reporters had asked to basically separate Manson’s play this year from the rest of his tenure in Colorado.

“Maybe you guys aren’t giving him enough credit for some of his past play,” Bednar said. “I’m really happy with the way he’s playing, don’t get me wrong. I just, I’ve seen it before, and I’ve seen it in large stretches before. But there’s no question that in order to play your best, you have to feel your best. So if he’s feeling really good now and that’s helping him, then yeah, I can agree with him.”

Looking back, I understand why the coach felt that way. But it’s also been 34 games now and Manson has seemingly played almost perfect defensively, has had spurts of offensive jump, and is an absolute animal physically.

6. Jack Drury, Joel Kiviranta, and Kelly were excellent in this game. They made great plays in the offensive zone. Kelly had the game-winning goal, Drury nearly tipped in Burns’ shot, and Kiviranta was solid at both ends of the ice.

With all the talk about Manson’s strengths, it was Kelly who led the team with six hits. Bednar noted after the game that Kelly transformed into a far greater player for this team after he was moved to the wing last season.

7. Necas got rocked twice after scoring the opening goal. Once in the second period by Logan Stanley, which caused him to miss the remainder of the period. And again in the third by Neal Pionk just as he tried to enter the zone.

Stanley also had a hit earlier that seemed a bit late on Nathan MacKinnon. Colorado’s superstar was not happy with that and neither was Gabe Landeskog.

8. Going back to Manson, you have to remember he’s having this great of a season while playing on his off-hand left side for the first time in his career just to be able to play with another righty in Burns.

I loved his response when asked about that pairing. You can tell he was referring to Burns’ opening goal. And probably other Burns plays throughout the season.

“It’s been great. I mean, it took me four shifts in the first period to finally realize that I just got to pass it over to Brent,” he said. “He can make plays from there.”

That had to be one of the easiest primary assists he’s ever gotten. He didn’t do quite as much as he did on the Kelly goal to earn it.

9. Speaking of Burns, he’s now up to six consecutive games with a point. Burns has 19 points in 34 games and is just 10 away from matching the 29 he had in a full 82 games with Carolina last year.

10. An even crazier streak: This is now four straight games where Burns has finished with a +2 rating. I know plus minus isn’t everything, but it says a lot for a second-pair defenseman to be on the positive side like that each night. The Avs are crushing it at five-on-five. Every line, every pair.

Burns is a +21 on the season after entering the year with a career +10.