Colorado came out with very little energy, allowing the Vancouver Canucks to control the pace of the game, leading to a 3-1 loss for the Avalanche.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
Enjoy Makar vs. Hughes
Avalanche and Canucks fans love to go at each other on social media about who is better, Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes?
Instead of fighting over who is better, I say sit back and enjoy the show. Quite frankly, there are arguments to be made on either side as to who is better, but why bicker when you can just enjoy two special defensemen playing in their primes?
Every Avalanche fan knows Makar is special, and this year he's looked a heck of a lot more like the guy who won the Conn Smythe trophy a few years ago than he did this past season. At the other end of the ice you have Hughes, who is the MVP of the Canucks. If you watch a Vancouver game, it's really not hard to see that everything they do runs through him. He's an effortless skater and, despite being undersized, he doesn't exactly take a ton of hits because no one can catch him.
Both guys scored 90 points last season, and they're both on pace to do it again this year. Defensemen of this caliber don't come along all that often, so sit back and enjoy the show, because that's typically what both of these guys put on when they hit the ice.
Another debut
Did anyone have Tye Felhaber making his NHL debut for the Avalanche on their bingo card a few months ago? You're lying if you say you did, because I can't imagine Tye Felhaber even thought this was a possibility coming into the season.
On Sunday, the Avalanche signed the 26-year-old forward to an NHL contract, then immediately called him up and had him make his debut against the Canucks. By dressing, Felhaber became the eighth player on the team to make their NHL debut this season. He also became the 36th player the Avalanche have been forced to dress this year. Last season they only had to use 37 players.
The team has only played 33 games. It's been a wild season already and we've still got several months left to go.
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Power outage
It doesn't matter who the Avalanche put on the top power play unit, it just isn't working.
Jared Bednar tinkered with the top unit again on Monday, taking Casey Mittelstadt off and putting Valeri Nichushkin on. The result was another 0-for-3 outing with not a whole lot of real scoring chances generated. In fact, the man advantage ended up being a net negative, as Kiefer Sherwood scored a shorthanded goal for the Canucks.
Colorado will continue to be stuck in neutral if the power play can't figure things out.
Canucks 3, Avalanche 1
What happened: Colorado was a step behind most of the night and never found their footing against Vancouver.
What went right: In his second start with the Avalanche, Mackenzie Blackwood was probably Colorado's best player ... again. Without a whole lot of energy in front of him, he held the team in as long as he could.
What went wrong: Quite a few players on the Avalanche have been dealing with an illness of late. It looked like it last game but they were able to find just enough offense to get by. That wasn't the case on Monday. Vancouver was chewed out by their coach after their last game and they looked like the significantly more motivated team from the drop of the puck. They came out and physically manhandled Colorado and the Avalanche never really pushed back.
Between the pipes: Mackenzie Blackwood was solid enough in net, stopping 22 of 24 shots.
What's next: Colorado heads to San Jose to take on Alexandar Georgiev and the Sharks at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
