If you’ve been waiting for the official, “The Colorado Avalanche are so back” piece, you’ve come to the right place. With the 6-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Avs finished up their toughest road trip of the season (five games in nine days) with a 4-1 record and two new goaltenders that give hope that the days of .870 goaltending being the norm are over.
In every way imaginable, tonight’s game felt like a reminder of what this Avalanche squad has in the back pocket. There’s just that extra gear they can get to when their superstar players are really clicking on a night.
To do it against the Penguins is perfect kismet given they are the franchise the Avs have most closely tried to emulate, what with their Cole Harbour-born superstar leading the way and all. The Pens used to be able to do this to teams regularly. Now, the Avs are one of the few who can rip off a game like this.
Let’s get into the Avs blowing the doors off the Pens to cap off their impressive road trip.
Mikko Rantanen is going to get paid, y’all
Facing unrestricted free agency at the end of this season, we know Mikko Rantanen is going to get one of the most lucrative contracts in the NHL. Whether it be by the Avs or someone else, we have to wait and see, but Rantanen is going to cash in on his outsized talent.
There are very few players with Rantanen’s frame (huge) and ability to do everything offensively. He’s a gifted playmaker capable of seeing the ice in ways very few players can but also has the hands and intestinal fortitude to try some of the stuff he sees.
Combine that with an elite shot, from a lethal one-timer to one of the league’s best backhands and a quick release and high-end accuracy on everything he tries, and Rantanen is the complete offensive package.
He draws my ire because he gets lazy and silly and tries to cut corners, but that’s because he is this generation’s Evgeni Malkin, a Hall of Fame talent playing Robin to another Hall of Famer’s Batman. Both are large humans with even larger abilities and hot tempers that get them into trouble. Both have been elite postseason players.
We saw everything in Rantanen’s bag tonight en route to his third hat trick of the season and a five-point night.
A nice chip up the wall to spring Nathan MacKinnon for the first goal of the game, then taking a ridiculous play from Cale Makar and showing off his hands in tight for his first goal to make it 2-0. Then he unleashed the one-timer for his second of the game, made another awesome pass to childhood pal Artturi Lehkonen and then cashed into an empty-net that MacKinnon worked hard to set up for him and boom, five points.
Other games are still ongoing as I’m writing this, but it put Rantanen into a tie for second in scoring in the NHL…behind MacKinnon.
