Colorado Avalanche Finding Answers in the Face of Adversity

The Colorado Avalanche split their road trip, losing one in Columbus and winning one in Buffalo. Overall, they’ve had a good start to the season.

The Colorado Avalanche played a sloppy game against the Columbus Blue Jackets and rightfully fell 5-2. They followed that with a 6-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres. That’s a pretty good answer, right?

Well, it’s not so simple as that, of course. Colorado did some good things in the Columbus game, such as Nathan MacKinnon threading the puck between his own captain’s legs to score. And the Avs did some foolish things in the Buffalo game, such as take seven penalties.

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These two games were important because they comprised the first road trip for the Avalanche. They gave the team a preview of what’s to come — seven of their October games (total of 12) are on the road. In the brutal Central Division, it’s imperative that the Avs get a solid base of points from the get-go, which will involve winning on the road.

What we saw in last night’s game was the players playing the way they’re expected to. What I mean is that the stars shined, secondary scoring occurred, defense tightened up, the goalie made huge saves, and Nikita Zadorov took a dumb penalty for a hit. (That last wasn’t helpful, but it is the expected.)

For this road trip, I wanted the team to develop what Colorado Avalanche hockey looks like on the road. It’s still a work in progress. I’m hoping they don’t have to make big mistakes such as the Columbus game each time to get back to their game. I hope what we saw with the Sabres was more their style.

One more general observation before I get into specifics from the Buffalo game. Colorado can score some goals. Through four games, the Avs have scored 17 goals. That’s just over four goals a game. Naturally, it’s unlikely they’ll maintain that pace, but it’s fun for now.

Also, Nathan MacKinnon has scored five goals through four games, tying a franchise record for most goals scored to start the season.

Notables in Buffalo

As you can see from the team’s Twitter poll, there was a lot to be impressed about in the Sabres game.

According to the Twitterverse, special teams was the least impressive aspect of the game, though it was impressive. The Avalanche scored two power play goals in four tries. They also killed all seven of their penalties.

Speaking of, Semyon Varlamov only allowed one goal in 31 shots. He stopped a total of 13 during penalty kill action. His save percentage was .968. Yes, he had to face 31 shots, but we all know that’s normal Colorado Avalanche hockey.

Four of the Avalanche’s six goals came from not-the-top-line (ie., secondary scoring). Colin Wilson might not be a bust after all — he recorded his third of the season against Buffalo. And Tyson Jost got his first goal of the season! He redirected a point shot from Tyson Barrie during the power play:

The kid just plays hockey the right way.

Alexander Kerfoot, on the other hand… took two penalties. Oops. But he got his first goal of the season, too, so hopefully that’s his saving grace:

Pretty good Nathan MacKinnon impression, don’t you think? See what happens when you shoot, Alexander? (Not that he had a choice — even Blake Comeau would hesitate to pass on such a clear breakaway.)

Speaking of, our MVP (because it’s never too early to get that conversation started) scored the other two goals for Colorado. The first came late in the second on a beautiful feed from

Mikko Rantanen

:

The second goal is my favorite because it’s just Nate doing Nate:

Corralling a bouncing puck in the neutral zone, ✔. Burst of speed to walk the puck into the offensive zone, ✔. Casual wrist shot to beat the goalie, ✔. That’s our Irish sniper.

So, all-in-all, the Colorado Avalanche have faced a little adversity, and they’ve answered it with aplomb. I’d account this a successful start to the 2018-19 season.