No Foolin', No Goaltending

The calendar turned to the month of April, beginning the final 16 days of the regular season. Only three games took place on the first day of the fourth month, and one of them saw the Colorado Avalanche hosting the Vancouver Canucks in what was supposed to be a mismatch. The Avs are the top team in the league. The Canucks, well, not so much. Bottom of the league, first team eliminated from playoff contention. A cakewalk, right?

Nothing is ever easy for the Colorado Avalanche. That was proven 29 seconds in when Mike Sasson put one in past Mackenzie Blackwood. Avs had control quickly, and when Nathan MacKinnon had the puck, I literally said, "Come on, Mack. Get you #50." Mack heard me. #29 shot it, and it went in! Fiftieth goal of the season for MacKinnon, the first to reach 50! Tie game, and right after, the Avs went on the power play. It was shown that our PP is now at 24th just weeks after it was dead last. However, the Canucks had a breakaway chance shorthanded, and it went in. Teddy Blueger's shortie made it 2-1, and the rest of our PP was knocked off.

It got worse when Jake DeBrusk scored on the Power Play. It was 3-1 Vancouver, but at 16:05, Gabriel Landeskog cut our deficit in half, and Vancouver led 3-2 after 20 minutes. The Avs were pushing for that tie in the second period, but Blueger scored his second barely five minutes in. Brock Boeser scored four minutes later, and he like scoring so much that he did it again almost six minutes later. 6-2 Vancouver leads, and that was it for Blackwood. Honestly, Blackwood should have been pulled after the first period ended. Granted, I've seen worse opening periods from goalies, but Blackwood just didn't have it.

Scott Wedgewood took over, and 22 seconds Boeser's second goal, Sam Malinski got on the board. Score was 6-3 after 40 minutes, and just 14 seconds into the third period, Parker Kelly made it 6-4. This was good! Now we had almost a full period to score two. It took a while to get another one, but we got it! Brent Burns struck at 13:21, and 37 seconds later, Malinski got his second! The deficit was gone! It was 6-6 and we had a game! Unfortunately, that great feeling lasted only a few seconds, as Marcus Pettersson gave Vancouver the lead back. After killing a penalty, the Avs pulled the goalie for the extra attacker, but that allowed Boeser to complete the Hat Trick.

The Avs lost a shocker, 8-6, to the lowly Vancouver Canucks. Holy Toledo! Here's what I took away from this. We scored 15 goals in two games. That's great stretch of offense right there. Nathan MacKinnon got to 50 goals first this season. He is just a couple of weeks away from winning the Rocket Richard Trophy for the first time in his career. This loss was a result of two things: one, we played down to our competition, and two, Blackwood did not have it. Again, Blackwood should have been pulled after the first period.

Regarding the Central Division chase, our magic number remains at six points, and our next game is the big one against the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Prior to this, the Stars will host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. If the Stars lose in regulation, the Avs' magic number will be reduced to four points, meaning that we could win the Central with a regulation win on Saturday.

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