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.
“That’s where the bulk of the goals are scored. That’s the reality,” Avs coach Jared Bednar. “Getting into that is an effective way to play.”
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. He also set a franchise-record for defensemen with his fifth consecutive multi-point game, and collected a signature moment in a showdown with fellow early-season Norris Trophy favorite Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes.
Before the Avs pulled away in the final 20 minutes, 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.
“I don’t even think (Manson) was looking at him when he hit him with his stick,” defenseman Jack Johnson said. “I think all of us would have done the same thing. You get a whack and he knew (Boeser) was coming at him and he put his stick up.
“I thought it was a little weak to kick him out of the game.”
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. 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 during that timeframe.
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 his career. Jonathan Drouin tipped a Makar slap shot past Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko to put the Avalanche in front.
Drouin also assisted on the Nichushkin goal for his first multi-point game with the Avs.
“I think there were better games (from me) with zero points, honestly, where they don’t go in,” Drouin said. “It’s nice to get rewarded sometimes where you’re standing in the right spot at the right moment.”
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 (lower body) 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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