The Avalanche had that amazing offensive blitz in the first round, never scoring less than five goals in a game in all five games, but against Dallas it all dried up- their top players have been all but shut down (those that still play for them...), and the loss of Val Nichushkin- again- obviously rattled them before their game on Monday night- the team collectively looked totally off their game. It would have been understandable, even expected, that Dallas would slam the door shut and end Colorado's season for Game 5- with the Avs' top scorer lost for at least six months, and the rest of their weapons stifled, what's left to do but finish it?
Just one teensy little problem... All Hail Cale.
Just another one of those nights where you watch Cale Makar and start thinking this is a true generational talent, the kind of player that entirely changes how a position is played for years to come. A two-goal performance really only tells the bones of the story- he was everywhere at once all night long making life miserable on both ends of the ice. And on the strength of that performance, we have a Game 6 in Denver coming up.
There was a time that I thought Colorado got screwed out of the top pick in that draft, and dropping down to #4 despite having the worst record in the league was absolutely ridiculous. I'm not sure that they didn't get the best player in that draft at this point- I'd go so far as to say the best defenseman in the NHL, in fact.
