The Aftermath: Avalanche Humble Surging Wild, Extend Winning Streak to 5 Games

It’s challenging to defeat the Avalanche twice in two meetings. It’s also not easy to gain a step on them when you’re on the second part of a back-to-back. The Avs have held the top spot in the NHL since Nov. 1, with only two regulation losses this season and seven more in overtime. And itt remained that way following their second game against the surging Minnesota Wild in less than a month.

The Avs ended Minnesota’s seven-game winning streak on Sunday at Grand Casino Arena, defeating them 5-1 to extend their own streak to five games.

This was also the Wild’s first loss since acquiring Quinn Hughes from Vancouver just over a week ago.

“We were definitely excited for this game,” MacKinnon told reporters after the game. “Just wanted to go play them and get this win, and we did that.”

MacKinnon had two goals, while Martin Necas, Cale Makar, and Brock Nelson each had one for Colorado, which improved to 26-2-7 on the season and 12-2-5 on the road. Makar and Nelson had a team-leading three points each, as they both added two assists. Valeri Nichushkin and Gabe Landeskog finished with two helpers.

Mackenzie Blackwood earned his 11th win of the season, making 28 saves, as the Avs outshot them 42-29. Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt suffered his second regulation loss of the season during his 37-save effort.

The first period began with a tight-checking playoff style game between two heavy clubs. Both teams were unsuccessful on a power play in that time. But with five minutes remaining in the first, Colorado started to gain momentum. Led by MacKinnon’s line, the Avs cycled the puck down low with ease, exhausting the wild in the process and dominating play.

Necas finally broke the scoreless tie, beating Wallstedt on a one-timer pass from Makar from beneath the hashmarks. Necas’ 16th of the season and second in two games came at 18:28 of the opening frame. The shots were 8-6 at the 15-minute mark, but Colorado went into the break with a 14-7 advantage.

The second was more cycling, more speed, more shot attempts, and goals from the Avalanche. Even the power play made its mark, doing so in a huge way in a game where they needed it.

The Avalanche put 19 shots on goal in that period against a very stingy club. But the goals came later on, since Sam Malinski’s early second-period tally was called back following a coach’s challenge for offside.

With Vladimir Tarasenko in the box for tripping, MacKinnon tallied a PP goal off a setup from Nelson at 13:37 to make it 2-0. Colorado started to get under Minnesota’s skin, and it was Marcus Foligno who took an unnecessary double-minor penalty to hurt his club.

Trailing back into his end, Foligno hit Avs forward Gavin Brindley into Wallstedt, and the referees were preparing to call a penalty on the play. When Brindley got up, Colorado had possession, and Foligno hit him with several cross checks before the whistle finally blew. The officials gave Foligno an extra two for those, and it set Colorado up with a four-minute power play.

It took almost three and a half minutes and a shorthanded breakaway save by Blackwood for the PP to capitalize, but Makar scored at 18:33 to make it 3-0, and to give the Avs a multi-goal power play performance.

The Wild had a PP in the second and did not score. They finished the night 0-for-3 on the man advantage, compared to Colorado’s 2-for-4.

In the third, the Wild broke Blackwood’s shutout bid and had a solid opening 10 minutes, with hopes of erasing the three-goal deficit. The lone tally came from Ryan Hartman at 5:15.

But the Avs regained control. Nelson scored a one-timer goal of his own at 15:52 off a setup from Samuel Girard before MacKinnon got his 30th of the season on an empty net at 17:35.

Good: Gavin Brindley is Fearless

Brindley isn’t the biggest player, but he plays with a lot more grit than most guys with a size advantage. Against Foligno, Brindley stood his ground in the crease after getting knocked into the goalie. When Foligno started to chop away, he kept his cool before Foligno eventually knocked Brindley’s stick away.

At that point, the much smaller Brindley had no fear against the 6’4 veteran. He went right at him and wasn’t going to let the Wild forward get away with it. Brindley didn’t get called for a penalty, playing the entire sequence as perfectly and responsibly as possible, while still sending a message.

He didn’t end up with a point, but that play was a vital point in the game. The ensuing power play made sure it was all worth it.

Bad: Wallstedt humbled.

I’m a big believer in having players show more personality. As a reporter, the generic hockey player answers don’t do much for me.

With that being said, Wallstedt may have gotten ahead of himself the last time these two teams met. Wallstedt faced 41 Avalanche shots on Nov. 28 and stopped 39 of them, and won a shootout to get two points and end Colorado’s 10-game winning streak.

After the game, he was asked about defeating the NHL’s top team and confidently responded, “It kind of says that we’re a better team than them.”

Kudos to him for playing a statement game back then and approaching the media with confidence. But that’s the type of unnecessary bulletin board stuff you might want to keep away from a veteran team like the Avalanche.

I will say, the Wild have an absolute keeper with Wallstedt. He’s a significant reason why Minnesota’s season turned around the way it did, starting in November. And he’s already reached this level at such a young age.