DENVER — Giving up the first goal on the first shot could sometimes lead you down a bad road for the night.
It was anything but that for the Avalanche on Saturday. Not only did they not let in another goal the rest of the way, but they only surrendered another e13 shots before the final buzzer sounded.
Colorado defeated the Boston Bruins 4-1 in the most one-sided performance they’ve had this year. Nathan MacKinnon scored two goals, and Josh Manson’s first of the season stood as the game-winner.
Martin Necas scored the empty-netter, and Artturi Lehkonen also had two assists. In goal, Scott Wedgewood made 13 saves to improve to 5-0-1 on the season.
“He’s given us a chance to win every night, and we’re limiting the scoring chances against in front of him,” head coach Jared Bednar said of his goalie. “And I think he’s looked phenomenal.”
The Bruins came out strong to start. Despite not getting a shot until the 3:12 mark when John Beecher scored, they were moving the puck well in Colorado’s zone. Even after the tally — a great setup by Charlie MacAvoy — Boston still had the upper hand,
But the Avs finally broke through. Not just with a goal, but their first shot on goal. MacKinnon collected a pass from Lehkonen and went in alone on goalie Jeremy Swayman to tie the game up at 1-1 at 7:08.
Those were the only two shots at that point.
Just over three minutes later, Gabe Landeskog won a faceoff clean back to Brent Burns, who quickly passed it to Manson for a shot from the blueline that beat the goal.
Two shots, two goals. Colorado didn’t look back from that point on.
“We want to limit them, we want to make sure we take pride in our defensive game,” Landeskog said.
Bednar’s club has been playing consistent hockey since the season began. But this felt different, particularly at five-on-five. The Bruins were overmatched; they couldn’t win a puck battle and they were unable to match the Avs’ speed.
Had it not been for Swayman and their ability to get in front of shots, the score could’ve blown wide open in the second. It took until the 4:14 mark of the third for MacKinnon to beat Swayman off another feed from Lehkonen.
The play started on MacKinnon’s stick, and ended with him roofing the puck to beat Swayman.
The Avs are the only team in the Western Conference that has five wins through six games. They’re one of three teams without a regulation loss in the West. The others, Vegas and Seattle, both have two overtime losses.
It’s been a great start. There’s no question about that. But the team has things to work on, and that’s their focus.
“We’ve been a good five-on-five team to this point. We’re doing a nice job on the defensive side of it, we’re doing a nice job on the offensive side of it, and the penalty kills been really good,” Bednar said. “You gotta win or tie the special teams battle, and the penalty kills keeping them off the board. So we’re tying it, even if we’re not scoring on the power play, and then we have faith in our five-on-five game.”
What Worked
The Dominance Continues
That second period was one of the more dominant 20 minutes I’ve seen from one team in a while. And it’s funny to say that, considering Colorado didn’t end up scoring a goal.
The Avalanche outshot Boston 17-2; they drew three penalties, but they couldn’t beat Swayman. Boston’s last shot on goal came at 8:03.
Overall, the Avs outshot the Bruins 31-7 in the final two periods. Just a ridiculously dominant performance.
What Didn’t
The Power Play
On a night where the Avalanche won, the power play and its lack of production might still be one of the biggest takeaways from this game.
They’re still struggling to figure out how to deploy these guys. And the fact that the change they decided to make was to remove Artturi Lehkonen to give Victor Olofsson a chance to be on the right wall is a head scratcher.
“We’re going to experiment with it. I’m not super concerned right now,” Bednar said of the PP.
I’m all for Olofsson getting a chance, I’m just completely against having all three of Valeri Nichushkin, Landeskog, and Lehkonen on the second unit. Those are three of the best net front guys and have all had success there.
It’s just not a good mix right now.
