Before embarking on quite an important road trip, the Colorado Avalanche had one last matter to take care of at home. The task at hand was hosting the Detroit Red Wings in the debut of Colorado’s very blue Hometown Remix threads. The home team gave their fans something to cheer about in the 4-0 victory, Colorado’s first shutout of the season. Mackenzie Blackwood made 27 saves and Martin Nečas scored a pair of goals as the Avalanche cruised to their 10th win.
The Game
It was a slow start in the first period,
which has become all too common, but at least the Avalanche didn’t give up a goal. Still, they were outshot 13-5 despite some back and forth action. Neither team committed a penalty either, so there would (definitely) be opportunity later.
As suspected, the second period featured a healthy amount of special teams time and on their third power play, the Avalanche finally got on the board. Martin Nečas found a loose puck on the doorstep and was able to sweep it past Detroit goaltender Danil Tarasov. Colorado scored another power play goal minutes later, as the Detroit penalty killers were clearly tired, and Nathan MacKinnon put one home from his favorite spot to put Colorado up by two after two.
Colorado extended their lead early in the third period as Nečas got his second goal of the night with some nifty hand-eye coordination as he swatted the puck behind Tarasov. Then, Gabe Landeskog and Moritz Seider had a surprisingly spirited tilt, which led to another Avalanche power play in which Cale Makar finally found the back of the net for his first power play goal on the season. Up 4-0 the game was all but over and it finally was as Mackenzie Blackwood secured a 27-save shutout for the win.
Takeaways
Not sure the game needed an AHL level of 14 penalties, specially since none were taken in the first period, but with five power plays and Detroit’s 25th ranked penalty kill, it all helped get the Avalanche out of a funk. Their special teams made the difference tonight, which is something the team needed and can hopefully build off of.
Cale Makar played just under 23 minutes in this game even with six minutes of power play time. Reducing the load on him might be the new tactic to rejuvenate the superstar defenseman and get him back to creating dynamic offense every night. And early returns with one goal on the evening might encourage the coaching staff to keep the strategy going.
Upcoming
The Avalanche embark on a Canadian road trip with their first stop in Toronto for a rematch with the Maple Leafs on Tuesday, November 10th at 5:00 p.m. MT.
