The Colorado Avalanche will play a lot of aesthetically pleasing hockey over the course of the 2023-24 season, but they’re also going to need to win some greasy ones.
What transpired Wednesday night was far from a Monet or a Rembrandt, despite two teams loaded with star power near the top of the Western Conference standings. The Vancouver Canucks had the better of the scoring chances in the first 40 minutes, but the Avs prevailed 5-2 because of three blue-collar goals and one moment of magic from the best defenseman in the NHL.
Riley Tufte scored his first goal in an Avalanche uniform from a spot where a lot of Colorado goals have come from of late — with his back to the Vancouver goalie at the edge of the crease. Miles Wood shot the puck off Tufte just 84 seconds into the third period to put Colorado ahead 3-2.
Cale Makar gave the home team some breathing room when he took the puck off J.T. Miller and scored on a breakaway. It was Makar’s fifth goal of the season. It was also his fifth consecutive multi-point game, and a signature moment in a showdown with fellow early-season Norris Trophy favorite Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes.
The second period of this game was filled with penalties and weird plays. Josh Manson was ejected and assessed a five-minute major for cross-checking Brock Boeser in front of the net.
Manson bumped Boeser while the puck was in play, then Boeser turned and came at him, chopping at his hands and earning a cross-checking penalty of his own. Manson’s stick came up and caught Boeser in the face, but the Avs clearly did not believe the play warranted a major foul.
There were five other penalties called in the period, including two on the Canucks after Manson’s ejection so Vancouver never actually went on the power play during the five minutes. J.T. Miller did score a 4-on-4 goal to even the contest at 2-2, but otherwise there wasn’t a lot for either team to take from the middle 20 minutes.
Nils Hoglander put the Canucks in front with 3:37 left in the first period, but a pair of goals in 66 seconds gave the Avalanche a lead at the intermission. Mikko Rantanen set up Valeri Nichushkin for a one-timer at the edge of the crease with Colorado on the power play.
It was the fifth straight game with a power-play goal for the Avs. It was also the fifth straight contest with a goal for Nichushkin. He has six goals and two assists in that span, which makes him the club’s most productive forward in that span.
Nichushkin doesn’t have the most points on the team over the past five games because Makar continues to move up the NHL leaderboard with the hottest stretch of games in his career. Jonathan Drouin tipped a Makar slap shot past Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko to put the Avalanche in front.
Makar had three consecutive three-point games before this one. He has 20 points in November, including 18 assists. At 25 years old, Makar is the youngest defenseman in league history to amass 18 assists in a month, per NHL public relations.
FOOTNOTES: Samuel Girard (personal reasons) was out of the lineup for the second straight game. Logan O’Connor missed a game for the first time this season. Tufte was recalled from the Colorado Eagles before the game to replace O’Connor.
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