It was a truly eventful day 3: for some teams, it was a turnaround they needed compared to their last game; for others, a continuation of dominance; and for still one, a wake-up call. Here is out day 3 went for the Colorado Avalanche players who played today.

A high-profile game to start the day, though a rather early one to say the least. For Finland, it was a much better all-around performance, as they controlled the game at their own pace. For Sweden, we all thought it might have been a one-off, given how they started against Italy, but it's another telling sign that they didn't come out strong enough. 

It's one thing to come back after a poor start against a less talented Italy team, but going down 2-0 against a strong team like Finland shows a team like Slovakia, who they play next, that if they can capitalize on a strong start, they can force Sweden to a different play style they want to control.

It was a quiet night for all Avalanche representatives in this game. Artturi Lehkonen finished with just over 14 minutes of ice time and no shots on goal, and his line was the “worst” per se, as they were the only line that wasn’t on the ice for a goal, but werent on ice for the single goal against.  While once again, Joel Kiviranta didn’t see a single second of ice time.

While Gabriel Landeskog didn’t have a great game, neither did the entire Swedish team. He finished with just over 15 minutes of ice time, more than the previous games, two shots on goal, and was a minus-one on the night. He spoke out after the game about the intensity Sweden needs to bring to their future games.

What was a strong opening period for Czechia turned scary when they blew a 2-0 first-period lead, allowing France to score three goals in the second period. They quickly retook the lead and narrowed the scoring differential in a 6-3 win. While Martin Necas and the Czechs' first game wasn’t great, aside from the blunder of the second period, Necas showed what he and his team could really do when they're clicking. 

His speed and creativity with the puck on his stick showed, finishing with one goal and an assist with six total shots in just over 14 minutes of ice time. Granted, a lot of attention was on David Pastrnak this game, which helped Necas rack up those six shots. He helped open the scoring in the first period on the power play (which, aside from Joel Kiviranta, each Avalanche player has contributed to) and added an assist early in the third period, which made it 5-3.

This team just gets better and better each game, from the top line to the fourth, with contributions from everyone, including the Avalanche players. Devon Toews was again held pointless, but playing just under 18 minutes of total ice time and being a plus-two, outside of a bad turnover early in the game that forced Logan Thompson to make a great save, he was the usual self that didn’t need to make any big plays with the cast around him.

Cale Makar now has a little more pressure on him with the unfortunate injury to Josh Morrisey, but finishing with two assists, four total shots, while playing just under 22 minutes is what he is used to. He helped open the scoring with a great passing play with him and MacKinnon, who set up Connor McDavid with an easy back-door shot to make it 1-0, and set up Mitch Marner on a tipped shot pass by Sidney Crosby.

Though the biggest story is how well MacKinnon has played with McDavid and Macklin Celebrini. MacKinnon finished with one goal and two assists with four total shots on just over 16 minutes of ice time, but all three together combined for three goals and five assists. Outside of the 1-0 goal, MacKinnon with a backhand pass to Celebrini, who rifles it with a one-timer to make it 3-1. He scored to make it 5-1 when he cleaned up the rebound that McDavid created when he dove to the net.

Landeskog and Sweden will look to bounce back against Slovakia. Lehkonen and Finland look to make it two in a row against Italy, while Brock Nelson and the United States will continue their strong start against Latvia.