Zooming Away

The Colorado Avalanche have been picking up wins left and right lately, and this is a right time to do it. When it comes to the home stretch, especially this late in it, the focus is often on the teams in the middle of the pack who really need the wins and points, and it should be. But the teams on top do need the wins as well. Even if you're in a very cushy spot, you want to keep that momentum up. You want to keep the foot on the gas. You do not want to let up. I've seen teams eliminated early in the playoffs because they got too relaxed at the end and forgot how to turn it back up to their normal level.

The Avs are coming off a strong win in Pittsburgh, and now it's nothing but conference games the rest of the way. First off, the Winnipeg Jets in a home-and-home, which begins across the border. These are not the same Jets we saw last year. Last year, the Jets won the Presidents' Trophy. This year? Scrapping for a Wild Card position. They have a good shot, though; it does help Peg that the WC picture in the West is very messy.

Mackenzie Blackwood was in net against the Gold Medal goalie himself, Connor Hellebuyck. The first period was quiet for the most part. No penalties at all, but we did see goals. Peg struck first, and of course, it was one of the stalwarts, Mark Schiefele. Schiefele's goal at 9:55 was assisted by Kyle Connor and Josh Morrissey, a true core effort by Winnipeg. Both teams went for it for the rest of the frame, and it would be the Avs who tied it up. Jack Drury, at 17:40, from Sam Malinski and Parker Kelly, and after 20 minutes, it's 1-1.

The second period is where the penalties came in. Jets received the first PP early in the frame; knocked off. Jets players were in the box more often after that. Avs' first PP was killed off. With 1:53 left in the frame, Jonathan Toews (who I am still happy to see back in action) was in the box. Avs on the PP again, and it became a five-on-three due to a Delay of Game penalty. Score remained tied at 1 after 40, with seven seconds left on our two man advantage.

Third period started, the seven seconds were easily knocked off, but on the five-on-four... guess who?! Nathan MacKinnon gets his 47th, just 13 seconds into the third period. Nazem Kadri and Martin Necas assisting, and the Avs lead for the first time. We ended up shorthanded later on, we not only killed it off, but Brock Nelson got out of the box and had a breakaway attempt, but Hellebuyck stopped his Gold Medal teammate. We did get a goal anyway, and it was You-Know-Who again! Mack's 48th--second of the game--was assisted by Artturi Lehkonen and Gabriel Landeskog. Oh right, I forgot to mention that Lehky's back!

Schiefele scored again for the Jets to make it a one-goal game, but here the thing. Normally, this would have been where Hellebuyck would be pulled for the extra attacker. Here's the thing: the Avs controlled the puck so well that the Jets couldn't pull him. The only thing that sucked about this was that we would not see Mack finally get his first Hat Trick of the season, but hell, I'll just take this W.

Avs won, 3-2, in Winnipeg, but I want to address something else:

See this? This is what the Central looked like after March 18, when we lost at home to Dallas. Only two points separating the Avs and Stars, and boy were Stars fans pounding their chests. "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear," said one Stars fan on Twitter. They acted like we should be afraid of the Stars, and that Dallas would eventually surpass us in the division.

Yeah, how's that going?

Stars fans are really silent now. Losing seven points in the standings in a week will do that. We haven't lost since that evening. Dallas hasn't won since that evening. Stars fans are right about one thing: objects in mirror are closer than they appear. But it's the Stars who need to watch their back, because the Wild are just three points behind them. As for the Avs, we've won four straight, and we are now 11 points (5.5 wins) away from winning the Central--and most likely the Presidents' Trophy.

The second half of the home-and-home against the Jets will take place on Saturday at Ball Arena.

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