Lars Eller Has No Luck In First Avalanche Game

Just hours before the puck drop, the Colorado Avalanche made a trade that could potentially strengthen their third line. The Avalanche made a trade for Lars Eller to the Washington Capitals for a second-round draft pick in 2025. Eller was with the Capitals on their west coast swing but was able to make the game with just minutes to spare.

Lars Eller 

Lars Eller will provide a much needed third line center that the Avalanche have been looking for all season. Eller can play on the penalty-killing unit and win face-offs. In fact, he is having his best year at the dot winning 54.61 percent of his faceoffs. This is an area where Colorado has traditionally struggled, especially with the injury to their captain Gabriel Landeskog. With their captain out of the lineup, they are missing his 53.3 career winning percentage. Eller can help make up for some of that. He will also bring some playoff experience to the locker room, winning the Stanley Cup in 2018.

Justus Annunen 

As Justus Annunen got his third start of his career, this would be his first at home in Ball Arena. His 1.01 GAA and .950 save percentage for the year in the NHL are impressive, but things did not look right for Annunen from the get-go. The first shot by Ondrej Palat went in with no problem getting the ball going for the New Jersey Devils. During the first period, Annunen looked unsettled. He played far out of the net and out of position. This was not the norm for the rookie goaltender, he has been solid in the AHL with the Colorado Eagles this season. Annunen has a .913 save percentage and 2.13 GAA with a 17-8-4 record with the Eagles. He just had a bad game last night.

The Skaters

It was a fast game last night, for both teams. The Devils had 30 scoring chances the entire game to the Avalanche’s 23. The Avalanche were playing out of position themselves. Allowing the chances to come for the Devils and  “leaving Annunen out to dry, “ said coach Jared Bednar.  The Avalanche did try to fight back in the second period with three goals in the period. Nathan MacKinnon would score his second of the game and continue to fight for a goal the entire game. New Jersey was playing hard on the forecheck late in the game, not allowing Colorado out of their own zone at points. Late in the game, the Devils’ style started to force Colorado into a dump-and-chase system. 

Conclusion

The Devils are a young and fast team. They have a style of skating that most teams don’t see too often and push through every zone. The Avalanche struggled with the amount of pressure that the Devils were putting on them the entire game, perhaps exposing one of the few weaknesses that the team has. The six-game winning streak now has ended, but in the meantime, the Avalanche were able to propel themselves to within four points of the division-leading Dallas Stars. The same Dallas Stars that they will face on Saturday. This next game may become one of the most important games of the year for the Avalanche, and they may have to do it without their biggest star Cale Makar.