The Colorado Avalanche Are A Wagon! | Avalanche Review Game 18

The Colorado Avalanche Are A Wagon! | Avalanche Review Game 18

Marty Nas had a four-point night tonight. Now, in a normal season, that might be something that happens maybe one more time this year. The ABS have had that happen five times so far this season. And all in unique games, too. McKinnon has done it twice, obviously. Nes tonight, Mar has done it, and Victor Oliffson has done it. Yeah, the ABS might be a problem. ABS win over the Buffalo Sabres 6 to3. I don’t know that the ABS have ever had a team with this level of scoring depth. Obviously, they were incredibly deep in 22 in their cup run, and I don’t want to take that away from them. But the ABS are averaging over four goals a game right now. And there’s actually a decent amount of stats that say that’s somewhat sustainable. For the record, in 2022, the ABS were averaging under three and a half goals per game at that point in the season that we are now and end of the season about 3 and 3/4. So, we’re starting to pick up on data that the ABS might be better offensively as far as top to bottom as a team than they were in their cup run. They just dropped six goals in this game without Val Neushkin. Multiple goals from their first and second lines in this game. And a good party is a party that starts early. Marty for the third time this year scores in the first minute of a game. A breakout pass gets away from Buffalo here and the ABS are going to immediately punish them. Ta goes backs to collect. Just a cute little chip up the wall to Macar. Nothing fancy, but Macar doesn’t really get challenged here. And you can see Buffalo doesn’t really defend very well. An open lane all the way up the ice. Mar hits it perfectly. Hits Marty Nas in stride for a clean breakaway cuz Buffalo’s asleep. And N just roofs it. Hey Buffalo, I don’t know if you know this, but you might not want to give Kale Mar the puck with no pressure and an open passing lane. He’s going to do that to you. It’s a great finish from Nis as well, and the ABS are off and running. I was hopeful that we would see the ABS get ahead and stay ahead and look good through this game with Buffalo being on the second game of a backto-back. If the early lead struck for the ABS, you would have liked that to stick. That hope grew a lot when the ABS strike again 6 minutes into the game. Doesn’t get a point on this play, but this type of play is exactly what the ABS missed with Sam Gerard. He collects a puck in the neutral zone and it’s a little bit of an awkward spot where Gerard has to retreat and avoid this for check to get the abs going the right direction and he does so perfectly. He looks off and see Molinsky’s covered too. So he uses his legs to put himself into space. Not quite a full spinny boy tornado but opens up a ton of room for himself to work and for the ABS to reset their breakout and get everyone going the right direction. And as the Sabres forch check falls off, he then goes to his partner who now has all the space in the world to work with. And Molinsky takes advantage of that. Firstly, getting through the neutral zone, but then getting up to the blue line with a nice pass for the breakout to click easily. Nate just now working along along the boards. We see the ABS love to try this pass to the middle man quite often or even through all the way to McKinnon on the backside here. And that’s a good play. I don’t hate it, but they keep it simple tonight. They go back to Sam Molinsky. Molinsky doesn’t hesitate. He shoots this puck on net. And when the rebound springs out, Arturi Luckin, the goodest, strongest stick in the league, he gets to rebounds and he scores goals. I do think something has shifted a little bit in the ABS play and a lot of that is centering around Arturi Lechin right now. But it’s also coming through with a few other players like Gabe Landiskog and that is the fact that the ABS have realized they can shoot not necessarily to score, but to create rebounds and then capitalize on that opportunity. Luckin has been nails for them in that netfront area as of late and it’s good to see him get on the board again. It’s incredible to see the difference between playoff teams and not playoff teams when it comes to defensive structure. These weaker teams this year with their defensive side, you’ve watched the ABS completely dismantle offensively at times making it look like a joke to score on them. Whereas the better teams, the ABS do have to grind it out and they’ve shown they’re able to do that. But this game was not that. This is after all the first period though, so the ABS can’t just cruise to a victory from the word jump. No, they do make things hard on themselves again. And the ex player curse is ever present. Drury going to go in behind his own net to Minsky here. And Molinsky is able to get clean possession. This is a pretty poor clearing attempt that maybe the ABS avoid this problem if that puck gets cleared and they don’t end up in trouble. As Buffalo collects, this is not a complicated play. A weak shot comes through all the way to Blackwood. It is a bit screened, but Blackwood clearly receives this one in the chest and it should be locked up. That should be a frozen puck every single time. It somehow finds its way out of Blackwood’s grasp onto the ice and stays loose. It’s a nice read from Taage Thompson to be there, be strong, and get this puck to a dangerous area, which allows for a tap in off a puck that never should have been there. Again, live in a world where that’s a little bit weak defensively, wanting your defenseman to do a better job of collecting that rebound and getting it out of danger. But if we’re being honest about it, that’s a puck that Mackenzie Blackwood has to smother. There should never have been a rebound there in the first place. I’d be more disappointed about that goal if I had time for it to settle in. But just 2 minutes later, the ABS are scoring again. Chaos can turn into danger in the blink of an eye. A flipped out puck from Buffalo is read well. Gerard in the neutral zone able to collect this. This puck ends up ricocheting off of his own teammate, but it works out as the ABS just continue the breakout clean, getting it up and into the zone quickly. And just from there, the play goes crazy. Brinley, great job to get this pass through cleanly to Ross Coloulton. And while the ABS thrive in a world of stretch passes and playing through their defense, sometimes the best pass of the night is just a beautiful little read and a chip. Colton does not overthink this, does not overplay it. He just one touches it through the man defending him to a Brock Nelson who has beat his man to the netfront area and Nelson is able to bury one for the ABS. This is a plus plus work from your second line with no Val Nachushkin in a step up from Brock Nelson and Ross Coloulton is necessary. You get that here and you’re also getting Gavin Brinley integrated into that line. The ABS have really wanted some increased production from Brock Nelson, but now it’s necessary without Nushkin. Colton’s production has honestly been solid for a guy you would probably consider more of a middle six forward than a true second line guy. So, we’re happy there. But great to see him connect with Brock in a way that feels like you can continue to work them together. And Brock with three shots on goal is one of those guys who feels like he’s leaning into the shooting a little bit more. Just the second time this season Brock has hit three shots in a game. He has to shoot. The ABS need him to be a goal scorer about that. This first period was really weird. Both teams only notched six shots on goal in the period. The ABS would score three times on those six shots and Buffalo would score twice. We’ll get to that second goal in a second. So, a place where there were a lot of missed nets, the ABS actually attempted 24 shots in the period. They just only hit the net six times. Very high scoring, pretty high octane. Just kind of weird that so few shots actually win on net. And while the ABS would win the period, they do find a way for a first period to leave a bit of a sour taste in your mouth. When you score three and only win a period by one, you can do better. Nothing special on the breakout here for Buffalo. They get the neutral zone and do go cross ice. And the AS kind of get a little bit sloppy here. The back check isn’t the best. This is probably supposed to be Colton’s guy, but Brinley’s also kind of checking him and neither of them do a great job on tracking and getting in deep effectively. As you can see, Colton whips on a puck there. So, you don’t love that this chance gets given up in the first place, but again, Blackwood is dead square to that and it still just gets through him. This was not the game we were hoping for from Mackenzie Blackwood here. An easy team on a Sega night. You wanted Blackwood to look the best of the three games he’s played so far this season. And certainly through the first half of this game, it’s probably the worst he’s looked. Those first two goals both just should not be going in on a quality NHL goalender. The good news is it ended up not mattering tonight. Blackwood was better than the guys in the other nets and he did enough to help the ABS win, especially later in the game. He made a couple of big saves when this game was close and the ABS were able to close it out. Still doesn’t feel like a step forward for him. He talked after the game. At this point, he feels good. He just needs more minutes to get in the groove. I would like the ABS to find him those minutes quickly, and I would like to get him back into form as soon as possible because games like that will hurt the ABS eventually if they keep happening. The ABS could have scored a fourth goal in the first period, too, though, with the last minute. Gabe Landiskog puts a puck in the back of the net, but it’s Gabe Landiskog, so you know, the ABS did something illegal. Jack Drury gets called for goalie interference on the play. I think it was up in the air. Ultimately, I don’t mind that it was called goalie interference, but it’s the NHL. It’s a coin toss. You never know what you’re going to get. The ABS challenge, it doesn’t go their way. By the way, this is getting real old with Gabe Landisk having goals called back. Eventually, you got to give him some. You get into the second period, and the second period was a little weird. One, the ABS have to kill off multiple penalties, so maybe slowed their own momentum there a bit, but two, at five on five, Buffalo did almost nothing in this period. It wasn’t super high octane from the ABS either. Only 17 shot attempts, but they held Buffalo to five. That’s not shot on goal. That’s shot attempts at five on five. Just five for Buffalo. Colorado’s dominance in all facets of the game at even strength continues to be ridiculous. In total, Buffalo only mustered 21 shots in this game despite trailing for the vast vast majority of it. The ABS put up 34, by the way. And I know Buffalo’s a bad team. I know things are easier against a team like that, but night in and night out, the ABS are doing this to everybody. That doesn’t stop them from giving up a goal to Buffalo’s power play, though. Buffalo getting in on their power play and getting set up quickly along the far corner half wall area, and they don’t really do anything fancy here. The ABS maybe get a little bit loose with their coverage, but it’s really not that bad for a penalty kill. Taage Thompson steps out up towards the top of the circles, and this isn’t the worst shot in the world to give up on a power play, but it’s a good one-time from Taage. And you can see Blackwood maybe just a hair slow getting over. He still gets a piece of this, but it goes in. That one is at least a dangerous shooter from a reasonably high danger play on a one-timer, so you understand it. But even Blackwood gets a good chunk of that one. We could really be talking about a game where all three goals in this one are one you want back from your goalender. And the ABS still go on to win this game pretty handily. as if to prove that point and to back up their goalender maybe not having their best night. The ABS regain that lead less than 90 seconds later. There is really very little to this play. Buffalo fumbling a puck along their own bench line. They dump it in and the ABS quickly collect and as they collect, Buffalo goes for a pretty lazy change. Quick, effective puck movement. Burns over to his partner. The ABS forwards are already starting to break out. Manson sees the ice and gets it up to Brinley quickly. Now Buffalo is chasing a little bit on the back side of this play, but the backside of this play isn’t going to matter at all. Just enough of a gap for Brinley to get into the circles here, and he just puts the perfect shot on this puck and beats the goalie clean. Look, at this point, I have heaped praise on Brinley for what feels like the entire season straight so far. And every time he gets an opportunity, he goes out and earns even more. This is exactly what he did tonight. He’s just a juice lord. Every time you need the juice, go to Gavin Brinley and he’ll give you something. No notes. He’s a perfect player for what the ABS need this year. That would give the ABS the lead going into the third. And while the ABS would gear it down some, playing that smart, safe hockey with a lead in the third period, they would still ultimately outshoot Buffalo 16 to7 in the period. Now, I do think a good portion of that is that the ABS legs were still strong and Buffalo’s absolutely went, but the ABS close this one out and they eventually get that insurance goal, too. So, you’re not sweating it. Gerard rims a puck. The ABS run their favorite breakout play. nature off the wall. Just a little touch to get him going. And somehow Buffalo gets caught by this. 57 minutes into this game, they still haven’t figured out this default from the ABS. And it’s a two-on-one for your top line. McKinnon opts to hold the puck a long way. Probably should have been a penalty call there, but it doesn’t get called and he just goes to work. Love this. We’ve seen some laziness this year from McKinnon. No, despite how good he’s been. This one, he gets the puck, he works it, and he finds the play. It’s not the cleanest, but doing that, that’s how you lead by example. Nas is the man coming in. He’s already scored one from this spot on a breakaway. He can do it in traffic, too. Hi. Yes. Hello. Who do you think is the best shooter on the Colorado Avalanche? If we’re talking strictly this season, I think you genuinely could say Marty Nous. You genuinely could say Nathan McKinnon, and you genuinely could say Victor Olivesson. It’s not Gavin Brinley, but with the shot he had on his goal in this game, it could be for you on any given night. And yes, the a shooting percentage right now across especially these last four games is certainly unsustainable. But on a lot of nights, they don’t have to. When they need to outscore their problems, they can. They also have won regularly 3:1, 4 to one this season. They just do it all so well. And they even get karma on their side in this one as the empty neter goes to Gabe Landiskog. A goal taken away, actually redeemed. The ABS have too many weapons this year. Victor Olivesson, who’s been their best depth scorer, didn’t even get a point tonight. Every single player on the ABS defense picked up an assist and you could have had more goals. The landy taken away goal, Sam Gerard at the post on a wide open net. The ABS actually are just as good sometimes. Again, they will have down games, but they can do this to any team on any given night. They proved it against Edmonton, New Jersey, this one against Buffalo. They can just dunk on teams. very very few concerns at this point bordering on none. You want Blackwood to play better and that might be it. Honestly, the abs are a wagon, baby. It’s that simple. We’ll call it there. Thank you for watching this game video review. I am Rudo and I may never shave

The Colorado Avalanche win their fifth straight game, becoming a wagon off the back of a four point night from Necas. The Second line provided goals from Nelson and Brindley, while Lehkonen and Landeskog also chipped in. The Avs feel unstoppable.

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