A Team Canada Reunion

The Colorado Avalanche had one more road game to play through, and similar to the day prior to this one, it was a divisional contest. On Saturday, the NHL's first day back after Four Nations, the Avs lost a heartbreaker in Nashville. For this go-around, the Avs were in St. Louis facing the Blues, who was also struggling, but not at Nashville's level. The Blues are doing better than many figured, but that's really because of the Predators' shockingly poor performance this season.

Following Scott Wedgewood's appearance, Mackenzie Blackwood was in net against Jordan Binnington, making this a Team Canada reunion of sorts. Binnington was in net for Canada for all four of their games in Four Nations, which drew ire from a lot of Canadian fans, because not only was Logan Thompson much better, Binnington still hadn't regained that spark that led him to the Stanley Cup in 2019. Despite that, Binnington did just enough to help Canada win. Regarding this game, it was a typical opening frame for both teams, and the Avs scored first again. It was a Four Nations combination; Devon Toews scored on his Canadian teammate, and the assists came from Cale Makar and Artturi Lehkonen (the latter playing for Finland in Four Nations).

The Avs' opening period was much better than the showing in Nashville, especially scoreboard-wise, as the Avs had a 1-0 lead. In the second period, the Avs tried to press for a second goal, but it just wasn't coming. St. Louis received the first and only power play of the game; that was killed off. However, the Blues tied it up, and it was Brayden Schenn (in his eighth season with St. Louis, hard to believe), who knotted it up. Under four minutes later, Colton Parayko (also on Team Canada) gave St. Louis the lead. The Blues were getting more of the chances that we were getting, but I figured that if it remained a one goal game after 40, there would be less pressure. That is...until Dylan Holloway made it 3-1 with 10 seconds left.

So the Avs were down two with 20 minutes left. More times than not, this was usually the time where the Avs really bounce back. Sadly, this was not one of those times. We couldn't get anything past Binnington, leading this Avs fan to fret, "Oh, now we get 2019 Binnington." Blackwood was pulled for the extra attacker, but nothing there, either.

On the bright side, we have a milestone here. Cale Makar's assist gave him 400 career points, and he only needed 374 games to get there. Makar is the third-fastest defensemen to reach 400 career points. The only two blueliners to do it in less time. Oh, nobody special. Just Bobby Orr and Paul Coffey. That's all. I never imagined we'd have somebody so special like Cale Makar is. There's a reason why when I say that Makar is the best defenseman in the league, I never get accused of being biased. The numbers say it. His career highlights say it. The Stanley Cup, Norris, and Conn Smythe also say it. We've heard the comparisons to the aforementioned Orr and Coffey quite a bit. And to think, Makar's debut came during the 2019 playoffs, and he went from scoring his first NHL goal in a playoff game, to being placed in the NHL's overall upper echelon of defensemen, along with Orr, Coffey, Bourque, and some guy named Lidstrom.

As for the Avs overall, we're 0-2 after Four Nations, but good news, Avs fans: we have a six game homestand coming up! Our opponents: Devils (Wednesday), Wild (Friday), Penguins (next Tuesday), Sharks (next Thursday), Maple Leafs (next Saturday), and Blackhawks (March 10). This is a golden opportunity for the Avs to really make up ground in the Central, especially with half of our six games being against teams who have little to no chance at anything.

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