The Anaheim Ducks skated into Wednesday night’s game with points in their last 14 games, and had not lost in regulation since February 8th. The Avs put an end to that. The Ducks have one of the highest ranked Power Plays, and the Avs were perfect on the PK. While the Ducks outshot the Avs, we controlled and capitalized on opportunities like in MacKinnon's amazing goal. The scoreboard doesn’t always indicate the true winner of a game, however the final score of 3-0 exactly illustrates how well the Avs played last night. It was one of the cleanest and hardest fought victories we’ve seen from the Avs all season.
The passing was crisp, the goals pristine, making the plays highlight worthy, and that doesn’t even include the perfect netminding performance that Varly gave. Semyon was outstanding, stopping 37-37 shots for the second game in a row, and proving to his coach, his team, his fans and ultimately to himself that he is the true number one goalie that can lead us into the playoffs. In his post game interview he said that he “was hungry,” and no, not hungry for stroganoff, but hungry for a win and playing like the team we all know they are capable of. It wasn’t just Varly who was hungry, but the entire team played like they were on the hunt for a win.
With the win last night, the Avs were able to jump over the hated Wild for the second wild card spot, and thanks to their loss tonight vs. the Oilers, the Avalanche will remain in 8th for the time being. The Avs are notorious for playing to the ability of their opponent, but let’s hope that is not the case in the upcoming Canadian roadtrip against non-playoff hopefuls in Winnepeg, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. However, the Avs will have to face the next three games without the captain. Landeskog, who has had nine points in his last ten games, was suspended for three games due to a cross-checking hit last night against Simon Depres. Whether with the captain or not, the Avs will need to continue to play with the consistency, the grit, skill and determination that they did last night if we are going to make it into one of the final playoff spots.