The Avalanche got the first of their injured forwards back, and it was the Gabe Landeskog, who admitted that a 96 MPH slapshot from Cale Makar in \u201cthe nuts\u201d led to him needing to sit out for two weeks. <\/p>\n
With the captain, the Avalanche won 3-2 in overtime against the Washington Capitals to earn their second straight win since falling in a shootout to Dallas. Mix in a Dallas OT loss to Minnesota on Saturday, and the Avs now have a five-point lead for the top seed in the Central Division at the 69-game mark for both teams.<\/p>\n
The best part for the Avs: They still have more coming. And it\u2019s only going to help shape the lineup even more. <\/p>\n
10 Takeaways<\/p>\n
1. Landeskog started on the second line with Nazem Kadri and Brock Nelson. But you just knew that Jared Bednar would elevate him to the top line if needed. And well, it was needed.<\/p>\n
Landeskog joined the top line later in the game and he got the game-tying goal just 1:03 into the third period to end Logan Thompson\u2019s shutout bid.<\/p>\n
2. That slight change meant Valeri Nichushkin was on the second line with Nelson and Kadri. The Avs loaded up the top six as they continue to await the returns of Artturi Lehkonen, Ross Colton, and even Logan O\u2019Connor, who hasn\u2019t played at all yet this season.<\/p>\n
Nichushkin and Kadri have chemistry from the 2022 Stanley Cup season. That line, ideally, should be dangerous, but it still means one of Nelson or Kadri are on the wing. Getting Lehkonen and Colton back is going to help further spread the wealth and it\u2019ll allow Kadri to play center.<\/p>\n
3. It\u2019s a numbers game right now for Nic Roy. Because he\u2019s the new addition without much chemistry with the team (like Kadri), he\u2019s the one lining up with the two rookies that Jared Bednar isn\u2019t giving much ice time to right now. That means Roy still isn\u2019t getting an opportunity to build chemistry with his own linemates, and is playing up and down the lineup to get more than the few shifts that Zakhar Bardakov and Gavin Brindley are getting.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s great to see that this line was able to get a big goal. Roy has three in nine games since the Avs traded for him. <\/p>\n
4. This is happening because Jack Drury, Parker Kelly, and Joel Kiviranta have been a staple of the Avs\u2019 lineup pretty much all year. That trio has a ton of chemistry and was coming off perhaps their best game of the season against Chicago. Ideally, they\u2019d be the fourth line, but they were the third line once again. <\/p>\n
I\u2019d imagine Roy is awaiting the injury returns the most, as he\u2019d benefit first from the additional talent on his line. Expect Roy to return to the right wing when that happens, which would finally allow Kadri to center the third line. <\/p>\n
5. Going back to Landeskog, it\u2019s hard to ignore how productive he\u2019s been this season after that early lull. Even two unfortunate injuries have not slowed him down. <\/p>\n
Landeskog has 10 goals, 16 assists, and 26 points in his last 32 GP.<\/p>\n
6. The captain also has 12 points in his last 12 games. He has at least a point in 10 of them. One of the two games in which he was held off the scoresheet was the one in Florida, when he crashed into the net and sustained a broken rib injury. He only played 5:58 in that game. <\/p>\n
7. Without Landeskog, Colorado is 9-9-3. With him in the lineup, their record is a dominating 37-4-7. It\u2019s hard to explain why the difference is that large. But it\u2019s just another reason why the team needs Landeskog healthy and available for the stretch run and into the playoffs. <\/p>\n
8. I can\u2019t speak enough about how Martin Necas dominated that OT period. He\u2019s been on an absolute mission since the Olympics, and this was just another example of how great he could be. He has game-breaking abilities, and he\u2019s a perfect fit for this Avalanche club. The only thing left is for him to replicate his production in the playoffs. <\/p>\n
In OT, Necas was strong on the forecheck to keep the Capitals from clearing the zone after a previous Avalanche scoring chance. He collected the puck and circled the right dot several times, keeping the tired Caps defensemen on their heels while awaiting an opportunity to find the right play.<\/p>\n
Eventually, he threaded the needle to Nelson at the doorstep, and the centerman didn\u2019t let the chance go to waste. <\/p>\n
In 13 games since the Olympics, Necas has 10 goals, 14 assists, and 24 points. Only Tampa Bay\u2019s Nikita Kucherov (27 points in 13 GP), has more since the break. Nathan MacKinnon is in third with 21 points in 13 games. <\/p>\n
9. Brock Nelson now has goals in consecutive games after going 11 games without a goal. This is fantastic news for the Avalanche. They need his goal scoring to peak at the right time again.<\/p>\n
Nelson is five back of matching his career high and, as crazy as it sounds, with just 13 games left, 40 goals is still within reach for the 34-year-old.<\/p>\n
10. Mackenzie Blackwood has now given up three goals in the last two Avalanche wins. Kudos to Bednar for giving him both starts and allowing him to rebuild some much-needed confidence. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Avalanche got the first of their injured forwards back, and it was the Gabe Landeskog, who admitted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[144,7,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-517904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-colorado-avalanche","9":"tag-gabriel-landeskog","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116276692526051465","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}