COLUMBUS, Ohio — Who knew a little weather and travel delay would benefit the Avs?

They seemingly showed it was beneficial in their Thursday night matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Despite arriving just hours before game time, the Colorado Avalanche showed up and showed out with a decisive 7-3 victory at the Nationwide Arena.

First Period

The Avs quieted the home fans early. Nathan MacKinnon was able to work his way through traffic. After fanning on his initial shot, he did get a second opportunity, which stayed on the ice and went five-hole on Elvis Merzlikins.

Artturi Lehkonen got the dish on the goal and nearly added on with a goal of his own. He found himself down low all by himself, but couldn’t lift the puck over Merzlikins. It ended up costing Colorado, as Sean Monahan cleaned up a Mackenzie Blackwood rebound three minutes later to even it back up.

Miles Wood was tripped up by Mathieu Olivier, but his side managed to kill off the penalty. In fact, it would be the Avs under pressure with Boone Jenner nearly scoring on the kill. Blackwood did enough to fight off the breakaway opportunity.

With things looking clunky, Colorado would break through again. Cale Makar got a nice pass from Devon Toews, setting up a good shot. It bounced back nicely from the endboards to Brock Nelson, who put it past a lunging Merzlikins for the advantage going into the room.

Second Period

Colorado and Columbus took part in a roller coaster affair in the middle frame. After the Avs killed off a too-many-men penalty, a fluky goal would get past them. Zach Aston-Reese simply threw one in front from the near corner, which got between the post and Blackwood for his first goal in 57 games.

Jimmy Vesey nearly followed suit with his own fluky goal, but it didn’t get through the netminder. Rather, Blackwood would have another mistake leading to a goal. Former Av Jack Johnson had a rising shot go out of the glove of Blackwood, right down to Jenner to grab the lead for the hosts.

It seemed as though things would get worse when Ryan Lindgren went down the tunnel after going off ailing something. He would later return and see a nice comeback come to fruition with three goals in 6:43.

It all started with a first for Charlie Coyle. He finished off a nice rush into the zone with his game-equalizing goal off the post and in.

Just moments later, more depth scoring found its way in. Jack Drury and Logan O’Connor helped set up Parker Kelly for a wicked release and the go-ahead goal.

After killing off a Lehkonen slashing penalty, Ross Colton drew a slashing penalty in the final two minutes. It led to history being made. MacKinnon found Makar in his usual far-circle spot, and his one-timer blistered the twine for his 30th goal of the season.

Third Period

Despite a scare with Colton blocking a shot and looking in some discomfort, it was smooth sailing for the Avalanche. Toews scored the sixth goal off a drawn-up face-off play off the post and behind Merzlikins.

Vesey almost added on in a nice night for the added forward for the evening. But the other added forward for this game would tack on the extra point. Miles Wood finished off a stunning passing play to end the night early for Merzlikins. For the first time this season, the Jackets pulled their goalie in a game with Daniil Tarasov entering in relief.

From there, the Avs would let the game play out – as would CBJ. It was much-needed for Jared Bednar to roll all four lines after a long night on Wednesday and rest some of his key guys. The ability to rest guys with already hurt guys like Martin Necas and Jonathan Drouin was very important in the final frame as Colorado rode out victorious 7-3.

Observations From the Mountaintop

This game ended up being a funky one in the middle frame, but then it was smooth sailing from there on out for Colorado. Already funky because of travel delays and not landing in Columbus until noon on Thursday, the Avalanche handled it incredibly well. They opened up with the lead and didn’t look too far off the pace. Aside from the opening half of the second period, the Avs were good all night. Perhaps the shakiest part of the team for the first time in a long time was goaltending. Blackwood was far from his best, but had the support in front of him.

Speaking of help in front of him, it doesn’t get much better than Colorado’s No. 8: Cale Makar. He ended the night with three points, including his 30th goal of the year. That record-setting goal marked the first defender to score 30 goals since Mike Green for the Washington Capitals in the 2008-09 season. His defensive partner in Toews also recorded a three-point night, as did Coyle and MacKinnon. 10 players recorded at least one point, including fan-favorite Erik Johnson with an assist for his first point back as an Av.

This game was big for both sides with playoff implications. Columbus loses key ground on the Montreal Canadiens, who beat the Boston Bruins. With the win, the Avalanche officially secure their spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for a remarkable eighth consecutive season. They sit at 98 points currently, four points behind the Dallas Stars. As of the publishing of this article, the Stars are beating the Nashville Predators and would move six points ahead. Perhaps more importantly for Colorado, there’s only a two-point difference between the Stars and Winnipeg Jets for first in the Central Division. The Avs are comfortably nine points ahead of both the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues. Although St. Louis can move up to seven points as they are beating the Pittsburgh Penguins as of the publishing of this article. Third in the division is seemingly locked up, but who will Colorado play?

Next Game

One more road game on this trip remains for the Avalanche, and it’s another big one. It pertains to a visit to the aforementioned St. Louis Blues on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. MT.