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It was Next Generation day at Ball Arena, which involves kids taking over key roles during the in-game fan experience.
It turned into a day where the Colorado Avalanche stars took a back seat to some of the “other guys” as well.
Brent Burns scored twice, Trent Miner collected his first NHL victory and shutout with 29 saves and the bottom-six forwards were all over the scoresheet in a 4-0 win Saturday afternoon against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
“We got contributions from a bunch of different guys tonight,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “It’s how you win. If you want to win a lot, you’re going to win in different ways and different guys are going to be chipping in. That’s what our team has been doing a lot this year.”
The Avs have now won the first two contests of this season-long seven-game homestand. Colorado is halfway through its home slate this season, and is 19-0-2 at Ball Arena. The Avs have also won 17 straight here, which is one one shy of the franchise record set during the 2021-22 campaign.
Burns gave Colorado the lead at 13:58 of the opening period. Gavin Brindley took the puck off the wall after a nice pass from Valeri Nichushkin and to the net on a rush. During the ensuing scramble, the rebound of a sharp-angle Ross Colton shot kicked out to the inside edge of the right circle and Burns snapped one through all the traffic in front for his seventh goal of the season.
His second goal of the game and eighth of the year came with Colorado’s fourth line on the ice. Brindley and Zakhar Bardakov collected assists as Burns’ perimeter shot went off the goaltender, off a Blue Jackets’ defenseman and trickled across the goal line.
Burns is one of the great offensive defensemen on the 21st century, but his eight goals this year are already two more than his last season with the Carolina Hurricanes. He’s well-positioned to hit double digits for the 14th time in his career, and 15 for the ninth time isn’t out of the question.
His two-goal game came two days after his defense partner, Josh Manson, scored twice.
“I don’t think either shot was going at the net,” Burns said. “I wasn’t thinking about it. (Manson) even talked about it today, about how this game has a funny way of humbling you … we just talked about having a good game. It was lucky bounces, but it’s (also) forwards being in good spots.”
Colorado’s recently formed third line produced the next two goals after Burns’ opener. Parker Kelly, up from the fourth line because of an injury to captain Gabe Landeskog, won a battle along the boards to the right of Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins. He got the puck to Jack Drury, who made a crafty little pass to Victor Olofsson for a backhanded shot and his eight goal of the season at 17:28 of the opening period.
Olofsson, a shoot-first offensive player in his career, had gone 11 games without a goal, though Avs coach Jared Bednar has repeatedly praised his defense and all-around play in his first season with the club.
Ilya Solovyov scored his first career NHL goal to give Colorado a 3-0 advantage midway through the second period. Olofsson led the offensive rush out of his own end, before leaving the puck for Kelly. His cross-ice pass found Solovyov, the trailing defenseman, and he buried a wrist shot from the left circle at 10:30 of the middle frame.
It was the third straight game with a point for Solovyov. He had no goals and four assists in his first 25 career NHL games, but has a goal and two assists in his past three.
Solovyov played in nine of Colorado’s first 13 games this season while filling in for an injured Samuel Girard. Then the Avs’ defense corps got healthy, and Solovyov didn’t play for 63 days — a span of 28 games.
“It was unbelievable,” Solovyov said. “I was just happy for myself, proud of the work that I’ve done for the two months that I was not playing.”
Brindley, whom the Avs acquired from these Blue Jackets in an offseason trade, and Kelly both had two assists. Olofsson had a goal and an assist, while fellow depth forwards Drury and Bardakov added an assist each.
This was the fifth career NHL game and third start for Miner. He has been up from the Colorado Eagles for the past four games since Mackenzie Blackwood went on the injured list Jan. 2, but this was his first NHL start since a 4-3 overtime loss Oct. 26 in New Jersey.
“For sure, it’s exciting to get my first win, but I think for us to get another win at home is just as exciting,” Miner said. “I think it went really good. I mean, there were a lot of shots blocked tonight that didn’t get through, and I can’t thank them enough for that. There were a lot of point one-timers, point shots that guys were eating pucks all night for me. I was pretty fortunate to be behind that group.”
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Corey Masisak
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