Lost in the glorious din of a groovy 3-2 Avalanche playoff win was a sneaky good score made by front-office honcho Joe Sakic way back at the NHL trade deadline.
Amid loud fanfare, the Florida Panthers acquired Philadelphia captain and All-Star Game MVP Claude Giroux, while Sakic made an under-the-radar move for Anaheim defenseman Josh Manson.
Advantage, Avs.
Laugh if you want. But check back with me when Giroux is watching from the sofa while Manson takes the ice in the NHL Finals.
Back in March, with the clock ticking down to the trade deadline, I recall a little grousing by folks who pretend to know hockey that the Avs didn’t do enough to improve their championship chances. But getting Manson was a smokin’ good deal by Joe.
One big reason to believe the Avalanche won’t fall apart this time in the quest for the Stanley Cup is the acquisition of the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Manson, a valuable glue guy.
How Manson has made Colorado a much tougher playoff out was apparent to even a knucklehead like me long before Manson won Game 1 of this best-of-seven series against St. Louis with a bomb from the blue line 8 minutes and 2 seconds into overtime.
“First playoff goal,” said Manson, who waited eight long years into his NHL career before living the dream of scoring when it counts most.
He thanked the hockey gods for surviving the raucous Tuesday night celebration with Colorado teammates, claiming Erik Johnson was three feet off the ice before jumping into his arms.
“And he’s a big guy,” Manson joked.
We’ll get to the overlooked value of Manson here shortly. But first let’s give credit to the big behind of Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog.
On a night when the Avs could’ve cursed the hockey gods for clanging posts and St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington stopped every puck he laid eyes on while making 51 saves, Colorado won the game on a shot Binnington never saw coming, because the No. 92 on the back of Landeskog’s sweater was the only thing in his line of sight.
“That whole shift was him,” said Manson, giving Landy credit for doing all the small things that make the difference between winning and losing.
Prior to the playoffs, Avs big shot Nathan MacKinnon said the team’s best players would have to drive the bus on the road to the Cup. Well, with a little grinding of the gears, the bus can be driven in reverse as well as forward.
As Manson fired from the perimeter of the attack zone, Landeskog was backing up his bum toward the blue paint, leaving Binnington so blind he barely flinched when Manson’s shot flew over his left shoulder before landing softly in the webbing of the goal frame.
“Then you just hear the crowd erupting,” Landeskog said.
When the going gets tough in the NHL playoffs, pretty doesn’t always win. The Avs dominated play for three periods, but were forced to overtime when Jordan Kyrou got a puck by Colorado goalie Darcy Kuemper late in regulation.
When the Avs could’ve gotten frustrated “there was no change in mentality,” said Manson, who also produced an assist by perfectly teeing up defensive mate Sam Girard for a goal during the second period.
After joining a new team at the deadline, the transition for any player, even one with the 453 games of NHL experience Manson brought to Colorado, isn’t always seamless. There certainly was a period of adjustment with Manson.
“He was thinking too much,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar admitted.
But after Manson unlearned the Anaheim way of doing things and adjusted to the Avalanche’s defensive structure, “now we’re seeing exactly why we got him,” Bednar said.
What I like best about Manson as a rock-steady influence on the Avalanche’s second defensive pairing is how his presence has allowed Girard to remain the same pesky Chihuahua on attack, while also being a calming influence on Sam the Heel-Biter known to get yappy and a little too excited when provoked under pressure.
“(He’s) has been huge for us,” Landeskog said. “He’s big on the penalty kill. He’s a physical presence (at the blue line). He’s a calming influence in the room. He’s got experience. He’s a really good teammate … and you can’t get enough of those.”
The secret of winning the Cup is in all the dirty, little details. While the puck can take funny bounces, nobody who blames the fickle nature of Lady Luck ever wins a championship. On a night when Binnington and the Blues could’ve stolen Game 1, they didn’t get it done.
Avs in five.
The trade for Manson wasn’t a blockbuster.
It was a quiet little move by Sakic that blew the roof off Ball Arena when Manson scored in overtime.
