This edition of the Colorado Avalanche has been so consistently good that Jared Bednar, often a tinkerer when he’s looking for a spark, hasn’t needed to turn the line blender on very often.
After starting 31 consecutive games with the same top line, the Avs’ top trio had a new look Saturday night in a 4-2 win against the Nashville Predators. Well, new to start a game, anyway.
Bednar moved rookie Gavin Brindley to the top line in the middle of the previous game, a 6-2 thumping of the Florida Panthers. Brindley started a game there for the first time, bumping Martin Necas down to the third line.
“Awesome,” Brindley said. “Playing with the best, if not one of the best players in the world. Pretty damn cool. I never thought that would come to fruition. Yeah, really cool.”
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Bednar’s rationale was pretty simple: He liked how Brindley played with Nathan MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen the game before, and wanted to see it again. Part of the reason for the switch Thursday against the Panthers was Necas has been playing through an illness, and didn’t love how he was playing.
It says something about how this season is going for the Avs that Necas still set up a goal and scored one, albeit one that was taken off the board because of an offsides challenge, against Florida.
There are still 50 games left in this season, but the Avs have steamrolled their way to the top of the NHL standings. They have 53 points in 32 games, which is tied for the third-most in league history at this point.
Bednar’s philosophy on building lines has a couple of core ideas. If he finds a line he really likes, he will stick with it for long stretches, and will likely to go back to at some point in the future. But, he also likes to tinker, and often says he wants every player to play with everyone over the course of a regular season.
“It’s definitely a bonus,” MacKinnon said of the flexibility. “We might need different combos eventually. I think it’s good to switch things up sometimes. I thought all four lines played pretty good (Saturday night).”
The past couple of Avalanche teams have given him good reason to shake up his lineup, either with slow starts to the season or in-season funks. The closet thing this group has had to an adverse stretch was a four-game losing streak that still involved collecting three points (0-1-3).
So, after 30 overwhelmingly successful games, Bednar did a little tinkering. Brindley’s return to the lineup against Florida led to a few new looks. Ross Colton moved to the middle for the first time all season, centering the third line. Brindley slotted in next to him, playing with the third line for the first time.
Jack Drury moved down to the fourth line, with Parker Kelly and Joel Kiviranta. A trio of Drury, Kelly and Logan O’Connor became of Bednar’s favorite lines last season, and they had an excellent playoff series against the Dallas Stars.
Roster construction and O’Connor’s injuries has kept that line apart this year, but Bednar has said they will play together again at some point. And Kiviranta is a pretty similar player to O’Connor.
Drury took the demotion in stride against Florida, and then scored Colorado’s second goal against Nashville.
“It’s easy. It’s part of being a pro,” Drury said before the Nashville game. “I’ve said this before, but there are so many good players (here), it doesn’t really matter who you are going out with. Any forward you go out with is going to be able to make plays and be smart. It’s easy.”
MacKinnon, Necas and Lehkonen will be back together at some point. That’s clearly a line that Bednar trusts and knows can will be consistently productive and dominate games.
He liked a second line of Brock Nelson, Valeri Nichushkin and Gabe Landeskog early in the season, even when it wasn’t producing, and now that they’ve been put back together those guys have started to turn more chances into goals.
Brindley playing on the top line may prove to be a short-term experiment, but Bednar was able to do some tinkering, collect some data and the Avs just kept rolling.
“He’s solid,” MacKinnon said of the 21-year-old rookie. “He’s a good forechecker. He’s definitely a water bug out there.”
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