Colorado’s defense is racking up the points, led by rookie Cale Makar.
the Avs are genuinely a balanced bunch. They got goals from all four lines Thursday and three points from defensemen in defeating the Ottawa Senators 4-1 at Canadian Tire Center.
Colorado, now 2-1 on this fivegame road trip, leads the NHL with 138 points from defensemen — 40 coming from Cale Makar, who retook the rookie scoring lead before Quinn Hughes of Vancouver tied him later Thursday night.
The New York Rangers are second in defensemen scoring, with 136 points.
“I think there is a time and a place for them to activate and help us (offensively) and right now they’re doing a good job picking the spots,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said of his D-men.
Makar’s 40 points (12 goals) are the most by an Avalanche rookie defenseman in club history. Sam Girard has 27 points from the blue line, Ian Cole 23, Ryan Graves 21, Nikita Zadorov 13 and Erik Johnson nine. Colorado also has a combined five points from non-regular defensemen Mark Barberio (two), Calle Rosen (two) and Anton Lindholm (one).
Starting on time. Colorado produced the first 13 shots Thursday and, if it weren’t for two penalties, Ottawa might have gone shotless in the first period. The Avs were that dominant until Gabe Landeskog was whistled for tripping at 13:16 and Zadorov skated off for holding at 16:55.
Brady Tkachuk produced the Senators’ first shot with 1:40 left in the period before scoring in the final minute to tie it 1-1. Nonetheless, Colorado started on time and dominated the first period in front of the Canadian crowd.
“The first period was really good. I thought we were getting above pucks, tracking was good, D-gaps were good, not giving up free shots on our net,” Bednar said. “I guess the downfall (was) we took two penalties and then had the turnover at the offensive-zone blue line and they came down and scored late. For the most part our play was focused and we had real good intentions.”
For the entire 60 minutes, Bednar said: “No passengers on the bench. D-corps was involved. All our lines played pretty well. For the most part, real good intentions from our whole group.”
Bottom line. Because of Colorado’s 11-day break late last month and Saturday’s 6-3 loss at Philadelphia to begin this trip, the Avs fell in the Central Division/ Western Conference standings. But winning the last two games on the trip has them back where they were — second in the Central/Western and just six points behind division/conference leader St. Louis.
The Avs have played three fewer games than the Blues, who play in Denver in the April 4 regular-season finale for both teams.
“We played a pretty good game in Philly; didn’t like the result. And to be able to bounce back and take two (consecutive) victories is good. Now we have to keep it going for two more until we head home,” Bednar said.
Footnote. The Avs arrived in Columbus late Thursday night and will have Friday off. They’ll have a morning skate before facing the surprising Blue Jackets, who are in the Eastern Conference playoff picture in what was pegged to be a rebuilding season. Colorado concludes its trip Sunday night against division rival Minnesota.