It felt like a playoff hockey atmosphere Sunday night inside Ball Arena.
The Avalanche (16-7-2) persevered over the Florida Panthers thanks to Andre Burakovsky’s hat trick. Here are five additional takeaways from a wild 3-2 finish. This game had it all.
Scary moment. A lively home crowd went silent for several minutes in the second period when Colorado defenseman Jacob MacDonald laid motionless on the ice after a legal (but brutal) hit by Florida winger Ryan Lomberg.
The Avs said MacDonald was “alert, responsive and has full movement.” Good news. But there have been two players carried off the ice on a stretcher over the past week alone. this past Tuesday after being leveled against the Rangers.
“Itap a fine line,” defenseman Erik Johnson said. “I didn’t love the hit. (Lomberg) kind of targeted him in a tough position. But it happens fast. Unfortunately, those hits are still part of our game.”
Blood on the ice. Sunday was a case study in NHL toughness. Avs defenseman Jack Johnson got a puck to the face in the first period, bled significantly and required several stitches. Play stopped while crews cleaned off the ice. Yet Johnson returned in the second period as if nothing happened.
“I got some blood on my pads even,” goalie Darcy Kuemper said. “It looked like a lot of stitches. I don’t know how many. But he’s a warrior to come back with just a shield on.”
Erik Johnson said: “Most guys go down with just a little stick to the face. He just stayed up and continued on. That says a lot about how tough he is.”
Kuemper shines. Avs coach Jared Bednar told reporters before the game that Colorado’s goaltending “has to continue to improve.” Kuemper, against the No. 3 goal-scoring offense in the NHL, took a step forward.
He was brilliant over two periods of shutout hockey. A quick pair of Florida goals in the third put the crowd on edge. But Kuemper strung together impressive shorthanded saves to close out the game.
“He was great,” Bednar said. “There were a lot of pucks, that when they started to push, that were laying around in the paint. … He found a way to keep them out of the net, still swallow them up and get us some whistles.”
Unsung hero. Defenseman Devon Toews ended his streak of four consecutive multi-point games on Sunday. He didn’t record a goal or assist. But another statistic proved more impressive. Toews’ ice time: 29 minutes and 14 seconds.
“What he is doing is really impressive to me and it doesn’t have to show up on the score sheet,” Bednar said. “He just helps in so many other ways. He’s such an intelligent puck-mover. … Then I go walking into the gym after the game and he’s in the gym. This guy is not normal.”
Toughness check. The Avalanche is 5-0-1 over its last six games with the NHL’s hottest offense. But Colorado showed it can win gritty when necessary.
“We’re never going to score seven goals every night and we’re never going to win by four every night,” Erik Johnson said. “A game like that was good for us.”
Bednar said: “I loved the response.”
