Avalanche Game 18 Recap: Giving Thanks

The Colorado Avalanche entered Game 18 of 82 coming off an evening where certain victory was snatched from the team at the last moment. In the last game before Thanksgiving is celebrated in the U.S., the Avs returned to Ball Arena to face off against a very strong Vancouver Canucks club. These were two teams who were pretty much cut from the same cloth. Nathan MacKinnon vs Elias Pettersson, Alexandar Georgiev vs Thatcher Demko, and the highlighted matchup, Cale Makar vs Quinn Hughes.

The first period was quiet, with the first penalty not occurring until the bottom one-third of the frame. The first power play went to the Avs, but that was killed off, and it was followed by the Canucks striking first. Nils Hoglander's sixth of the season made it 1-0 for Vancouver, but barely over a minute later, the red hot Valeri Nichushkin ties it up. The helpers come from Mikko Rantanen and Jonathan Drouin, and it's followed by the latter giving the Avalanche the 2-1 lead just 66 seconds after Nichushkin's goal. So Drouin's first multi-point game with the Avs ensures a one-goal lead for Colorado after 20.

Now the second period is where things became insane. Vancouver gets a power play at the 2:25 mark, and it later becomes 16 seconds of 5-on-3. All of it gets killed off, but then, the Canucks got another power play. Here's where it becomes really infuriating. At 8:33, it appears to be matching minors for Brock Boeser and Josh Manson, yet regarding the latter, the officials are contemplating calling a major. Now, the video showed that Manson was defending himself and Boeser walked right in to the stick and gave one hell of a sell job. But it's the Avs, and the zebras can't stand us. So Manson ended up receiving a five-minute major simply for defending himself. Ugh.

So Vancouver ends up with a 4-on-3 for seven seconds before it becomes 4-on-4. During the 4-on-4, J.T. Miller ties it up, with the helpers coming from Hughes and Filip Hronek. Once the 4-on-4 ends, the Canucks would be on the power play for over three minutes, and remember, it's a major power play. A major only ends when the time runs out. It would have been the case...if Anthony Beauvillier hadn't interfered with Ross Colton. So it was 4-on-3 for the Avs, that was killed off, and then Tyler Myers committed a penalty. Everything ended up killed off, and by the time it was full strength, that five-minute major was wasted. How wasted was it? The Canucks were on the power play for only seven seconds out of the maximum five minutes. Seven seconds out of 300. That's barely over 2% of the major! I call that poetic justice, because Manson should have never been in the box for five minutes.

Despite all of that, Miller's goal was the only one of the period, and it was 2-2 after two. Avs struck early in the third; Riley Tufte put in his first NHL goal at 1:24 to give the Avs the lead back. The score remained the same for the most part, until Cale Makar steals the puck on a breakaway and puts it in at 12:38. Canucks ended up pulling Demko, but the Avs get the empty netter. Rantanen scores his 12th from MacKinnon and Nichushkin, and the Avs win 5-2.

On a week where we all give thanks, I am immensely thankful that Cale Makar is our defenseman. Cale Makar is the best defenseman in the entire NHL. Notice that every time I say that, I never get accused of being biased as an Avs fan, because other fans know. Hard to believe that this is his fifth full season in the NHL, and he's already getting comparisons to great blueliners such as Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey. Makar continues to tear it up. He is two seasons removed from winning a Norris Trophy, a Stanley Cup, and a Conn Smythe, and he is still establishing himself in that #1 spot. Makar enters Turkey Day as the points leader for the Avs with 29, and that includes eight points in his last three games (G/7 A)!

Speaking of awesome Avalanche defensemen, I have to mention this. It was a homecoming of sorts, as Adam Foote made his first appearance at Ball Arena as the assistant head coach of the Canucks, standing alongside Rick Tocchet. Like every Avs fan, I was happy to see #52, and it's amazing how the "Mission 16W" Avs are everywhere. Foote's an assistant with the Canucks, Dan Hinote has that same position with the Nashville Predators, Alex Tanguay (whose two goals in that Game Seven still stay fresh in my memory) has the same position for (of all teams) the Detroit Red Wings, Rob Blake is the GM of the Los Angeles Kings, and Chris Drury is the president and GM for the New York Rangers. Of course, we have the captain, Joe Sakic, who was our GM until we won that Cup in 2022; he's now our president of hockey operations.

After the Avs enjoy Thanksgiving, it's a pair of back-to-back games. First off, the Avs head to Minnesota to face the Kirill Kaprizov-led Wild on Friday, and on Saturday, it's back at home to face the Calgary Flames.

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