Avalanche's Cale Makar endures head contact in first game back from concussion at Blues
Feb. 18—ST. LOUIS — Cale Makar suffered another blow to the head in his first game back from a concussion.
Give the kid a break.
Luckily, Makar escaped the contact relatively unscathed in an impressive 4-1 road victory against the Blues. It happened early in the third period as he collided in the neutral zone with St. Louis forward Alexei Toropchenko, whose right forearm struck Makar in the face.
Makar briefly left the ice at Enterprise Center and went through the tunnel before returning later in the period. He expects to play Sunday at home against the Oilers on the second night of back-to-back games.
"Yeah, I hope so. Unless anything turns," Makar told The Denver Gazette in the visiting postgame locker room. "Just a tough one. I got kind of bruised on the nose just because I think my visor hit it. But we'll see."
Coach Jared Bednar added, "Obviously, with the injury that he's just coming off, you're kind of on edge. ... His stick got tangled up high and it gave him a bloody nose. He went off and just got looked at real quick. Checked out the nose and then he was back. So, no real problems coming out of that, which is good."
Makar logged 21:27 of ice time with one shot on goal. The star defenseman has recorded 13 goals and 32 assists this season.
Annunen starts
Recently called up AHL goaltender Justus Annunen learned on Friday that he was scheduled to start for a Saturday matinee in St. Louis. Anunnen — a 2018 third-round NHL draft selection — leaned mostly on a single piece of advice from the Avalanche coaching staff.
"Just trusting myself is the biggest thing," he said.
Anunnen looked sharp in St. Louis facing limited chances. His only allowed goal (Sammy Blais) resulted from a Sam Girard defensive zone turnover with excellent Blues puck movement. Annunen was otherwise solid making tough saves appear routine in his third career NHL game and second start.
Annunen, deflecting credit, told The Denver Gazette: "The guys were awesome today. I didn't have too much to deal with. A pretty easy game for me." It's possible he earns more starts down the road with backup goalie Pavel Francouz not expected back until sometime in March.
"I thought (Annunen) was steady. A good outing from him," Bednar said. "He didn't have a lot of work but made some saves look easy. They had a couple of high danger chances. We did a nice job of keeping the traffic from out in front of him, but he made the saves and looked good. Sharp. ... Obviously, we have high hopes for his future. He's been carrying the load and doing a nice job with the Eagles.
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Manson sits
Defenseman Josh Manson did not play Saturday as part of a planned absence, the team announced shortly before puck drop. Colorado's medical staff did not want him competing in back-to-back games during his initial return from a lengthy injury (lower body). Manson is expected to return Sunday versus Edmonton.
"He came out of the game the other night in (Minnesota) really well. Feeling good," Bednar said. "Obviously, that was a heavy, physical game for him. He hasn't been used to that for quite some time. Just precautionary for this weekend, we didn't want to play him in a back-to-back. So, we left him at home to rest, especially with Cale coming back in."
Mr. 200
Forward Mikko Rantanen broke out of a slump and hit a major milestone.
His first period slapper to give Colorado the lead ended a six-game goal-less drought. It also marked the 200th goal of Rantanen's NHL career. He is just the ninth player in franchise history to reach that big number.
"I don't know. It's not too many, I would say," Rantanen said. "I'm more going to celebrate the win."
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Avalanche 4, Blues 1
What happened: Colorado ran away with a road victory against an underwhelming St. Louis that traded away its captain (Ryan O'Reilly) on the eve of puck drop.
What went right: Mikko Rantanen opened the scoring with a first period one-timer. Bowen Byram had a two-goal night and Valeri Nichushkin also scored. Nathan MacKinnon notched two assists. The Avalanche power play went 2-for-4 and their penalty kill went 3-for-3. They were the more dominant team as reflected by the shots-on-goal tally (33-20).
What went wrong: St. Louis made it a one-goal game late in the second period. A Sam Girard turnover opened the door for excellent Blues passing at the net front with Sammy Blais finishing the tic-tac-toe in transition. Cale Makar left the game briefly with an apparent head injury but returned to play.
Between the pipes: Justus Annunen, in his second career NHL start, made 19-of-20 saves with starting goalie Alexandar Georgiev getting a needed rest day. St. Louis netminder Jordan Binnington stopped 29 of Colorado's 33 shots on goal.
What's next: The Avalanche (20-19-5) host the Edmonton Oilers (30-19-7), 1 p.m. Sunday (ESPN+) at Ball Arena.
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