Even though rookie Cale Makar put on a clinic, the Colorado Avalanche fell to the Minnesota Wild by a score of 3-2.
The Colorado Avalanche dropped their final game of the road trip, and it stung. They lost to the (hated) Minnesota Wild, and you just hate to see that.
The loss also represented the first Central Division win in eight tries for the Wild, and you really hate to see that.
Nonetheless, the story of the night was Cale Makar.
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In the post-game pressers, pretty much to a man the players and coach agreed that the Avalanche didn’t put forth their best effort. During the game, all the Altitude announcers kept remarking that the Avs were not playing well in the first half of the game.
Defenseman Nikita Zadorov said it best: “ stepped on the ice sleepy.”
Well, all of that changed when Cale Makar rang the puck off the post halfway through the second. You read that right, it was a failed scoring attempt that got the team back into the game. It’s like that ring was so loud it woke up all the Avs players.
And then he really woke them up by scoring on the power play.
The goal was a thing of beauty. All goals, even ugly ones, count the same. However, beautiful goals like the snipe Makar laid on Minnesota goalie Alex Stalock are just so fun to watch.
Look at our prize rookie pick his spot top shelf where Mamma keeps the mayonnaise chicken:
The Wild had left him open. They were so busy focusing on Nathan MacKinnon that they forgot about our superstud rookie.
That goal got the Colorado Avalanche back into the game. They started pushing back hard against the Wild, and the play took place more in Minnesota’s zone.
And then, 4 1/2 minutes later, he did it again — this time at even strength.
This time the Wild players weren’t fooled. When Makar got the puck, they started to drive toward him. It just didn’t matter. First, Makar turned Jared Spurgeon into a traffic cone (not that he isn’t already), and then he broke Joel Eriksson Ek’s ankles:
That is the very definition of a difference-maker. The Avs looked lackluster — or sleepy, as Zadorov put it — so Makar just took over.
Speaking of our Russian menace, he did have one piece of advice for Cale:
"“He needs to work on his celebration a bit more.”"
Makar’s celebrations are a little… underwhelming. However, it’s the part before that counts.
Unfortunately, Makar’s superhuman effort wasn’t enough to win the game or even get it into overtime. The (hated) Minnesota Wild scored a fluky goal and won.
Random Observations
- Failing to play 60 minutes and turnovers cost the Avs the game. They are a faster, skilled team, but they just couldn’t handle the puck tonight.
- I’m not a fan of T.J. Tynan, or at least how he played tonight. I get he’s a fill-in, but you want your AHLers to be unnoticeable at worst. He was noticeable a few times, and not in a good way.
- Jared Bednar’s allocation of time continues to baffle. Vladislav Kamenev, who scored the game-winning goal against the Flames, recorded the lowest ice time of any player (6:19), while Valeri Nichushkin, who hasn’t scored a goal in 90 games, recorded 14:20. At one point, he was leading all forwards in ice time. I’m beginning to think he’s the new Gourque.
- Colorado had an excellent road trip. They won three of their five games. They had a different goalie in net for each win, and that’s not something you see very often. (And we don’t really want to.)
- Former Avs news: Tyson Barrie finally scored his first goal with the Toronto Maple Leafs. So, that means he doesn’t have to score against the Avalanche on Saturday, right?
By the way, Cale Makar, a defenseman, is leading all rookies in scoring by a margin of eight points — he has seven goals and 18 assists for 25 points. He’s scoring at a pace that hasn’t been seen in, literally, a hundred years by a rookie defenseman.
As the saying goes (on Twitter anyway), you can’t spell Calder without Cale.
The Colorado Avalanche have a two-game home stand starting this Saturday when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs. Here’s to seeing more of Makar’s magic.