We knew the Colorado Avalanche would probably bounce back after a 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on the opening night of National Hockey League action on Wednesday. Just not many would have thought Colorado would have beaten the Stanley Cup champions from two years ago by a two-point converted touchdown in the process.
That is what we saw Friday, as the Avalanche defeated the Blues 8-0. Colorado was simply perfect both offensively and defensively. They outshot Colorado 38-21, and had no problem putting the puck behind Blues goaltenders Jordan Binnington and Ville Husso of Helsinki, Finland, who was playing in his very first National Hockey League game, and now has a goals against average of 12.15.
No, these are not your 2019 St. Louis Blues, but more was expected from the Blues lineup. Instead, they were completely embarrassed on the ice.
When a team normally gets a shutout, it is the goalie that regularly gets the love. However, on this night, the Avalanche skaters deserve recognition.
Canadians Nathan MacKinnon of Springhill, Nova Scotia, and Cale Makar of Calgary, Alberta led the Blues offensively with three points each. MacKinnon had one goal and two assists, while Makar had three helpers. Six other Avalanche players had multi-point games as Devon Toews of Abbotsord, British Columbia, Nazem Kadri of London, Ontario, Andre Burakovsky of Klangenfurt, Austria, and Mikko Rantanen of Nousiainen, Finland each had one goal and one assist for two points, while Gabriel Landeskog of Stockholm, Sweden scored twice, and Samuel Girard of Roberval, Quebec had two helpers. The Avalanche also got a goal from Joonas Donskoi of Raahe, Finland.
In between the pipes, Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer of Rosenheim, Germany recorded his first shutout of the season and sixth of his career. He made seven saves in the first period, four saves in the second period, and 10 saves in the third period for 21 saves overall.
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