Avalanche Game 11 Recap: Chaos, Chaos, and More Chaos

Thankfully, we Colorado Avalanche fans had a lot of time to lick our wounds after the drubbing in Vegas. Two days off, followed by a return to the team's beloved Ball Arena for a three game homestand. First up, the New Jersey Devils, who are off to a good start after a season where they reached the Elite Eight. It's always nostalgic for me when the Devils and Avs get together, mainly because this was the Cup Final in 2001.

Alexandar Georgiev is in net against Vitek Vanacek, and it's New Jersey with the first shot of the game. The shots are quite steady, but the Devils' third shot goes in. Tyler Toffoli with the goal, and the Avs are down 1-0. Colorado would get in more shots, and it's followed by a power play for the Avs, which only gets one shot on goal. Avs get another power play late in the first, and this one succeeds. Nathan MacKinnon gets it to Cale Makar, who shoots it, and it's tipped in by Mikko Rantanen--that's #7 for The Moose.

Game was tied at 1 after 20 minutes, and during the second period, with Joe Sakic being interviewed in the TNT booth, the Avs took the lead for the first time. Ross Colton put it in, with Miles Wood and Logan O'Connor with the assists. Remember the first two names of that exchange. Devils go on their first power play of the game, and it's a bit messy, as the Avs had two shorthanded chances. It gets killed off, and later in the period, Wood delivers quite a rough hit to Jonas Siegenthaler, with Dougie Hamilton retaliating later on. Of course, the retaliation is caught, and only Hamilton gets penalized, resulting in a power play for the Avs. It becomes a 5-on-3 for 36 seconds, but Makar's too cute pass is intercepted and controlled by the Devils, and that kills the two-man. The 5-on-4 is killed by the Avs having too many men on the ice (oh brother!). So we have 4-on-4 and that's where the insanity started.

So...Ross Colton had himself a moment. Boarding towards Luke Hughes, and a cross-check to the face of Timo Meier. Now, originally, the boarding was going to be a major penalty. The officials talked it over and decided that the boarding would be a minor, but the major would be the cross-check. Two, five, and 10. Colton was done, and he'll be hearing from Player Safety, count on it. So the Devils had nine seconds of 4-on-3, and it became 5-on-3 once Hamilton was out of the box. Devils tied it up on the two-man, and guess who?--Timo Meier. Funny how that works. The guy who is usually on the receiving end of something cheap or dirty, ends up being the one who scores. So the game's tied, the two-man's over, and the Devils have a power play for six and a half minutes! Here's the kicker. The last five minutes is the major penalty. On a major power play, it only ends once the clock runs out, meaning the team with the advantage can score as many times as they want.

So as I prepare to cross my fingers for the next six minutes, all of a sudden, the Avs break away shorthanded, and it's Wood--the ex-Devil--with a shorthanded goal! So that softens the blow. The assists came from Makar and Valeri Nichushkin, and the Avs have the lead back before preparing for a marathon of penalty killing. However, a funny thing happens. Alexander Holtz knocks Devon Toews' stick off his hands. Interference, 4-on-4 for two minutes. At this point, I'm thinking, "The Devils really suck at this power play thing." The 4-on-4 ends with nothing going in, and once the major PP is back on, it's Dougie Hamilton who ties it up. The rest of the major is done, and then the Avs get a power play very late in the period, which ends tied at 3.

For the first time all season, the Avs are tied after 40 minutes. Last season, the Avs were 11-2-3 when tied after two periods, and never lost in regulation at home under that situation (4-0-3). The 3rd period starts with 22 seconds left on the Avs PP, that gets easily killed off. In immense contrast to the 2nd period, the 3rd was quiet, with the only noise coming from Ryan Johansen giving Colorado the lead back, and Nathan MacKinnon scoring just over two minutes later (the goals were on back-to-back shots). Devils attempted to press, but couldn't get one back, and with less than three minutes left, Vanacek gets pulled. Rantanen shoots it in to the empty net from across the rink, and that iced it. Avs won 6-3.

This was such an insane game. It's easy to forget that the Devils actually scored first in all of this mess, so the Avs had to play from behind. So much happened in this game: Rantanen had a pair of goals and an assist, Makar had three helpers, but the craziest moment had to come form Miles Wood, yet another one of the new players we signed during the offseason. Wood played his entire career with the Devils until this season, and the fact that he delivered the shorthanded goal during a very lenghty power play for the Devils was just too perfect. Amazing how the Avs often seem to thrive in these chaotic games where too much of everything happens.

As for Colton, yeah, he's going to get that phone call. He'll definitely get punished. A fine at least, and I do expect him to be suspended for a game for this. It'll be quite the interesting fallout. As for the Avs, the team will have the Seattle Kraken over at Ball Arena on Thursday.

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