On his home ice, surrounded by thousands of Detroit fans that covered the Pepsi Center in a sea of red, young Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon dropped his gloves and fought for the franchise’s lost glory.
Less than a minute after the opening faceoff, there was MacKinnon taking punches in the face from Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson. Ericsson had run MacKinnon roughshod into the boards, and the 19-year-old Colorado forward was not about to be bullied.
“It was in the heat of the moment, for sure,” MacKinnon told me Thursday, admitting that he decided on fisticuffs to settle the dispute. “Right now, I don’t feel like fighting anybody. But, it was a big game, and I asked him to fight. He said yes. It was fun.”
MacKinnon did what hockey players do: He traded fists to prove his manhood. MacKinnon battled in the grand tradition of the blood feud between the Avalanche and Red Wings.
He wrestled Ericsson to the ground, desperately trying to show that Colorado can again be an NHL club that demands respect. It was gallant. It was also just plain stupid. Your most-talented scorer, using his hands as weapons? Dumb.
“Obviously I’m not in favor to see Nathan fighting. But I guess he had his reasons,” coach Patrick Roy said.
As the arena shook with an approving roar from a crowd with a lust for blood, here’s what struck me: Is a teenager really the toughest man that Roy has got to stand up for team pride? And is MacKinnon really the best shot the Avalanche has of overcoming a wretched start to kick in the back door to the playoffs?
MacKinnon is not much more than a kid. But if he doesn’t lead the charge down the stretch, the Avs will be stuck, with their noses pressed against the glass, on the outside looking in, enviously watching as the Stanley Cup tournament begins.
Detroit beat Colorado 3-0.
While maybe it wasn’t quite a must-win game for the Avalanche, every opportunity lost to grab the eighth and final seed in the Western Conference hurts.
“It’s going to take 95, 96 points to get in the playoffs. It’s always been that way. Looking at the stats, maybe it will take 93 this year, but it will somewhere around there. So we know we have to win basically two out of three games until the end of the season. That’s what it’s going to take to get ourselves in the playoffs,” Avs veteran Alex Tanguay said.
Oh, there will be griping about a goal by Colorado captain Gabe Landeskog disallowed in the opening period, wiping out an early lead for the Avs. The decision had Roy screaming in anger.
But the ruling was clearly correct, as Nick Holden’s glove pass in front of Detroit goalie Petr Mrazek had made the score possible. “It was the right call,” Roy admitted after the game.
Roy told me last week that his young team learned a tough lesson the hard way this NHL season. The Avalanche, fresh with the glow of winning a division title last season, did not come to training camp with understanding of the focus and commitment required to take the next step toward a championship. And the fall was hard.
Blame the errors of youth, if you like. Cite the injuries that have often made the Avalanche lines and defensive pairings a patchwork quilt. But it also must be mentioned that front-office executive Joe Sakic did not properly address the team’s glaring needs at the blue line.
On too many nights, the Avalanche formula for success is an over-reliance on goalie Semyon Varlamov to save his teammates’ bacon and pray Colorado can find a way to stay competitive until they conjure magic in the fading seconds of the third period.
Trailing by only a goal with three minutes, eight seconds remaining in regulation, Roy again tried his favorite ploy, and pulled the goalie. It didn’t work, as Detroit’s Darren Helm and Luke Glendening both scored on the empty net.
Pulling the goalie is not a strategy.
It’s desperation.
Do the Avs have a puncher’s chance of making the playoffs?
Yes.
But … if a 19-year-old MacKinnon has to throw the punches, then Colorado seems doomed to lose the fight.
Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or twitter.com/markkiszla
