Avalanche Game 63 Recap: Just(us) Another Manic Monday

You know, there are days where I really, really love the sport of hockey. Today is one of those days.

The Chicago Blackhawks picked a bad night to enter Ball Arena. The Colorado Avalanche were coming off a terrible loss to the Nashville Predators, and when a team gets hit in the mouth like that, they are looking for blood. Thankfully, our favorite punching bags, the Blackhawks, are willing to oblige. So for the final time, it's time to teach Connor Bedard a few lessons.

The matchup was the same as the one from the last meeting: Justus Annunen vs Petr Mrazek. On a side note, it was brother vs brother, as for the first time ever, Seth (Blackhawks) and Caleb Jones (Avalanche) were facing each other, with their proud parents, NBA legend Popeye Jones and his wife, Amy Jones, in attendance. For the most part, it was quiet, then the Hawks had their first power play of the game; it was killed off. Avs pressed after that, and 12:31, guess who? Nathan MacKinnon, scoring goal #38 and picking up point #102 this season. Get used to that name in this recap. Anyway, the Avs struck again five minutes later, and it was Jonathan Drouin, though originally, it was waived off. Replay showed that it clearly went in top shelf, so it was 2-0 for the Avs, and after that, the Avs went on the power play and were really looking to make it 3-0 before the horn sounded.

1st period ended with Colorado up 2-0, and the rest of the PP was killed off. Annunen remained a brick wall--it's like Leap Day never ended for him, and as for the Avs, we did make it 3-0, and finally, it was Cale Makar. Makar had a helper in the first period, but the goal Makar scored was his first in almost a month. So the monkey is finally off Makar's back, and the assists came from MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, giving MacKinnon 103 points. Exactly five minutes later, Zach Parise puts one in; Caleb Jones' shot went off a Hawks player and then off the back of Parise's skate, giving Parise his third goal since joining the Avalanche. The other assist came from MacKinnon, giving him 104 points.

This game was pretty much done, though the Hawks kept getting power plays in the second and third period. I swear, the refs were trying to help Chicago kill that shutout, but all power plays were killed. The same can't be said for Colorado's next power play, as MacKinnon (there's that name again) struck again! Second goal of the game, fourth point of the night, and the 105th point of the season! All that was left to count down the final ticks until the shutout, though the Blackhawks didn't make it easy on him in the final minute. They really pressed for a goal, but in the end, Annunen shut the door...again!

He did it again, folks! Justus Annunen blanked the Blackhawks for his second straight shutout. He's been lights out in his last few starts; just two goals against in 183 minutes and 42 seconds in the net, that definitely results in a sub-1.00 GAA in his last three starts. So does this mean that we can feel safe when Alexandar Georgiev takes a siesta? Or do we still need to go after a backup goalie at the deadline. We have until early Friday to decide. Also, Cale Makar's goal-scoring drought is over, but the big development is Nathan MacKinnon's four point night, which moves him into a tie with Nikita Kucherov for the points lead. It gets better, Avs fans! MacKinnon has more goals than Kucherov, so at this point, the Ross would be going to MacKinnon!

So with the win, the Avs move within two points of the division lead, which is shared by the Winnipeg Jets and the Dallas Stars--though the Jets' three games in hand place them in the division's #1 position. The Avs have face each of the aforementioned Central clubs one more time this season, but for now, the boys will prepare for Game #64, a home game against the Detroit Red Wings.

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