Where do we begin?
The Ottawa Senators were hoping to be the ones to finally end the Avalanche’s run at home. Colorado entered the game losers of two straight games in regulation, with a handful of injuries to disrupt team chemistry.
It didn’t matter. The losing streak ended. The injuries weren’t an issue.
The Avalanche scored eight goals before the game was two periods in on Thursday and went on to crush the Senators 8-2. Colorado is 18-0-2 at home and has won its last 16 in front of its own fans.
Josh Manson and Brock Nelson scored two goals each, while Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Martin Necas, and Brent Burns added one.
MacKinnon (goal, three assists), Manson (two goals, two assists), Ross Colton (three assists), Makar (goal, two assists), and Nelson (two goals, assist) all had three or more points before the second period ended. This was a first in franchise history.
On top of that, Manson fought and handled Tyler Kleven in the first period. And to everybody’s surprise, Samuel Girard fought Tim Stutzle in the third period and dropped him with a right. Then there was Scott Wedgewood, who got into it with Shane Pinto after getting run over by Lars Eller.
And most of this happened after what would’ve been a 3-2 goal for Ottawa was overturned thanks to a successful offside challenge from head coach Jared Bednar. Colorado followed that up by scoring five goals on eight shots in a span of 6:18.
The Senators also pulled off the double goalie switch. They started with Leevi Merilainen and he surrendered three goals on 12 shots. Then they put in Mads Sogaard, who let in five on 16 shots. To start the third, Merilainen was back in goal to finish the game.
So I ask again, where do we begin?
“I feel like I wasn’t really doing everything differently, it was just one of those nights,” Manson said.
Colorado opened the scoring at 10:11 of the first period. Manson’s point shot found the back of the net a few minutes after he exited the box for his fighting major. The Avs doubled the lead before the break thanks to MacKinnon’s 36th of the year.
To start the second, Makar wired one past Merilainen and that led to the goalie change. Ottawa found its groove and Pinto scored to make it 3-1. The Sens added another shortly after that, but it was wiped off because of the offside challenge.
Then the floodgates opened.
Necas tallied a power-play one-timer goal from near the goal line to make it 4-1 at 11:46. Seventeen seconds later, Brent Burns banked one in off a Senators defender. At 14:23, another power-play one-timer, this time from Nelson, made it 6-1. Manson added his second at 16:48 and Nelson scored again at 18:04 to make it 8-1 before the second intermission.
Brady Tkachuk scored a shorthanded goal in the third period to make it 8-2.
Good: The Bounceback Performance The Avs Needed
It’s often hard to forget that we were a third-period comeback in Carolina away from the Avs going 0-3 on their road trip.
Playing at home has been a massive success for the Avs this year, and they didn’t waste any time getting back in that groove. With the next six at home after this, the Avalanche got back to playing their game.
The top guys all showed up. But the depth pitched in too. Colton needed a game like this just to shake off the slump. MacKinnon continued to keep pace with Connor McDavid for the league lead. Manson was an absolute animal in every aspect of the game.
Ilya Solovyov, in just his third game back in the lineup, made an excellent pass to Nelson on his second goal.
And major props to Bednar for giving Manson power play time late in the third to try to complete the hat trick. The power play itself was solid, adding two goals.
Everything was coming up for the Avs (aside from the shorthanded goal) and it was the best way they could’ve bounced back from the two losses.
Bad: Things Got Way Too Chippy
The worst part about games like this is that the losing team is often going to start running around. The Senators did exactly that, led by Tkachuk, Ridly Greig, and Nick Cousins. They were finishing every check and trying to play for their pride.
Wedgewood got run into a couple of times. Necas was hit into the Ottawa bench. Cousins tried to fight Girard in the third after Girard had already fought Stutzle. The Sens wanted to take a piece out of the Avs.
“They’re gonna come hard, and they have, they have pride over there, and no one wants to be embarrassed, so you just got to play smart,” Nelson said. “Keep doing the right things. Try to have good habits. Just be aware of different things, different guys, or different plays.”
