DENVER — Martin Nečas responded to recent feedback with one of his best performances of the season. 

Nečas delivered a four-point performance on Thursday in the Avalanche’s 6–3 win over the Buffalo Sabres at Ball Arena, scoring twice and adding two assists. Even more notably, the 26-year-old recorded just two shots on goal—making his shooting efficiency flawless on the night. But the conversation earlier that morning painted a very different picture. 

After the game, Bednar acknowledged that Nečas—through no lack of effort—hadn’t been at his sharpest in the previous couple of outings. As a result, he was asked to sit down with assistant coach Dave Hakstol for a video session. Whatever was discussed clearly resonated, as Nečas emerged as the best player on the ice that night, though the specifics of the meeting remained undisclosed—until now. 

The Hockey News asked Bednar after Saturday’s practice at Family Sports Center what specific areas Nečas had been asked to tighten up, and the coach obliged with an explanation. 

“There’s a handful of things we’re working on (with Nečas),” Bednar said. “We want him to make sure he’s committed to the checking side of things as much as he is committed to the offensive side of things. 

“There’s things that all players (have) that kind of go in and out of their game. And when they’re really good at certain things, they tend to produce. And when they’re not really good at certain things, they can go cold, right? In our opinion, Marty had a couple of not-so-great games and it’s our job to at least recognize that and then give him solutions to let him work his way out of that. That’s exactly what Hack did.” 

Nečas Fires Back 

Nečas scored less than a minute into the game to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead. He netted his second of the night and his 12th of the season to extend Colorado’s lead to 5–3 with 3:07 remaining in the game. And Nečas had a chance to finish the night with a hat trick with three shots on net, but instead fed Gabriel Landeskog a pass so the captain could get on the board with an empty-net goal with 1:49 to go. 

“I’m always going to pass it to my Captain when I see him open,” said Necas following the game.  

How can you not love that?  

“Marty responded,” Bednar added. “After the meeting, he obviously has a big night to get back on track. Hopefully he continues to do that because he had a really good start to the season and that was the first kind of dip that we saw that lasted more than a game or a period.  

“We wanted to make sure we try to snap out of that right away because we rely on him heavily now. He’s playing on our first line and we need him to be a good player for us and we know that he has the ability to be an impact player every night. That’s what we want.” 

And that's exactly what Nečas did. As he's done all season, he struck early and quick to give his team a lead. Nečas told The Hockey News that's exactly how he likes to play. 

"I don't think we can let off the gas (early in the game)," Nečas said. "Even if you don't start well, you (can) still give your best, and (can) waste energy. So, might as well make it count. Whenever you're up in the first period, it's always good.

“I think it’s nice when the other team has to chase. We just keep playing our game. We’ve been playing good defensively. So [many] shots, that you get chances offensively, so that definitely helps.”

Tonight

We'll see if Martin Nečas can keep up this pace this evening when he and the Avalanche (12-1-5) take on the Islanders (10-6-2) at Ball Arena. He's ranked 2nd in team points with 24 behind Nathan MacKinnon (33) entering tonight's game. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. local time. 

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