Mackenzie Blackwood has uncovered the key to Gavin Brindley’s success.
Brindley, who has evolved from training camp surprise to NHL regular to fill-in second-line forward in a hurry, had a goal and an assist Thursday night to help the Colorado Avalanche machine roll on in a 6-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Ball Arena.
“He’s played amazing,” Blackwood said. “I’m very impressed with him. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He’s got a little Thunder Bay in him.”
The 21-year-old Brindley’s father is from Thunder Bay, Ontario, which also happens to be the hometown of a certain Avalanche goaltender. That connection aside, this was an important first step for the new-look second line.
This was the first game Valeri Nichushkin missed of what Avs coach Jared Bednar estimated would be “a handful, at least.” Nichushkin’s lower-body injury is the first for a player in Colorado’s top-nine forwards this season. While a few key players have missed time, no one at Nichushkin’s level has.
When Bednar said earlier this week that Brindley’s ceiling is as a top-six forward in the NHL, he meant in the future. Not a few days. But Nichushkin’s injury forced a lineup shuffle, and Brindley slid into his place next to Brock Nelson and Ross Colton on the second line.
And on a night when Martin Necas had a two-goal, four-point performance, the second line’s contributions were also critical in a sometimes choppy, sometimes sloppy win against one of the league’s worst teams. The Avs are now 12-1-5 to start the season, and the 29 points match a franchise record through 18 games previously set by the 2001 Stanley Cup champions.
“You need that (secondary) scoring and we were fortunate to get it tonight,” Brindley said. “I feel like it was a big part of the win.
“(Nelson) and (Colton) are both pretty good players. I thought it was a lot of fun. We were finding our groove there a little bit towards the end. I thought it was a good start.”
The Avs scored three times on their first five shots on goal in this contest. The third came from Nelson after a perfectly orchestrated re-load and offensive attack with all five players on the ice getting involved.
Samuel Girard stopped the puck near the red line along the left wall and got it to Colton, who pinged it across to Sam Malinski. The Avs defenseman passed it ahead to Brindley along the right wall, who carried it into the zone and found Colton cutting toward the net. Colton’s one-touch pass teed up Nelson for his fourth goal of the season and a 3-1 lead.
After Buffalo clawed back into it with a pair of goals, Brindley collected the game-winner at 16:22 of the second. The Sabres were making a line change, and Jacob Bryson gave up the puck by softly sending it into the Colorado end. Brent Burns grabbed it and quickly snapped it to Josh Manson, who sent Brindley down the right wing for a rush.
Brindley carried it into the zone and ripped a shot past Buffalo goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen into the top left corner of the net.
“I saw (Manson) get it. I checked over my shoulder and had a lot of space,” Brindley said. “I figured I could just come down and rip it and fortunately, it went in.”
Brindley finished with a career-best 13:02 of ice time. He now has four goals and seven points this season, including three goals and five points in the past four games. He also signed a two-year contract extension Tuesday morning.
The Avs created more than 60 percent of the expected goals at 5-on-5 with Brindley and Nelson on the ice. If this is going to be the second line in the short to intermediate term, it was a pretty good starting point.
“I liked them at times,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “I think a little bit like the rest of our team, they missed some opportunities to play in the o-zone just by protecting a puck, winning a battle here and there, but overall pretty good on the defensive side of it. They were playing against (Tage) Thompson’s line for a little bit and did a nice job. You give up something to get something on certain nights with different lines, and they sort of freed up MacKinnon’s line to do some good things.”
Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.