DENVER ― This wasn't supposed to happen.

Teams that have lost as much talent, experience and leadership as the Blue Jackets — again predicted to finish at the bottom of the NHL — aren’t supposed to visit a Stanley Cup contender’s home and leave victorious after holding four two-goal leads. Tell it to the Blue Jackets (1-1-0), who did exactly that Saturday in a 6-4 win to spoil the Colorado Avalanche’s home opener at Ball Arena.

“We showed we can compete against those teams,” Blue Jackets goalie Daniil Tarasov said, “and we can get a real good result.”

Here are six takeaways, one for every Blue Jackets goal:

Columbus Blue Jackets center Sean Monahan has night to remember against Colorado Avalanche

Sean Monahan, who turned 30 Saturday, won’t soon forget this win, his role in it or becoming the first Blue Jacket to don a new postgame “donkey” hat, which replaced the Jackets' Civil War era Kepi hat worn by a player chosen by a teammate after victories.

Johnny Gaudreau, a close friend and former teammate of Monahan's, used to enjoy calling friends and teammates a “donkey,” which led to the new twist to include him as part of locker room celebrations.

“To be honest, it’s emotional,” Monahan said. “It’s nice to get our first win. You feel the love from this organization, I feel the love from my teammates and obviously I can feel the love from John.”

Gaudreau and his younger brother, Matthew, were killed Aug. 29 while biking in New Jersey. Gaudreau's No. 13 jersey hangs in a stall inside the Blue Jackets' locker room for every game this season, home and road. The Gaudreau brothers will be remembered with an on-ice ceremony Tuesday before the Blue Jackets' home opener against the Florida Panthers.

Columbus Blue Jackets’ first line showing quick chemistry

Had Filip Gustavsson not been sharp for the Minnesota Wild in the Jackets’ 3-2 loss Thursday at Xcel Energy Center, the Blue Jackets' top line of Monahan, Marchenko and Yegor Chinakhov might have stuffed their stat lines in that game too. They didn’t produce a goal in that one, but dominated stats that gauge possession, scoring chances and expected goals.

Two days later, they had similar success while netting three goals. Each finished with one goal, two assists and three points against the Avalanche, showing that chemistry between them is quickly heating up.

“‘Chinny (had) his game today, ‘Monny’ too,” Marchenko said. “We just feel synergy.”

Daniil Tarasov comes up big for Columbus Blue Jackets in win over Colorado Avalanche

Allowing four goals on 30 shots isn't usually cause for a goalie to feel good about his performance, but there are exceptions. Daniil Tarasov made a lot of key saves for the Blue Jackets against one of the NHL's most dangerous offensive attacks, led by Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar.

Tarasov picked up the win in his first start of the season, getting the nod over Elvis Merzlikins based largely on his performance in a 4-1 victory against Colorado in April last season. It went against logic based on this season's preseason numbers for the Blue Jackets' top goalies. Merzlikins outperformed Tarasov by a lot, statistically, in his three preseason games and was solid Thursday in a 3-2 loss to Minnesota.

Tarasov came up big several times to nix scoring chances for the Avalanche, including a decision to come far out of his net to thwart Mikko Rantanen's developing breakaway.

"It was kind of 50/50," Tarasov said. "It was happening pretty quickly. I just tried to, like, keep this puck away from my net."

Columbus Blue Jackets make a third-period lead hold

It wasn’t perfect, but the Blue Jackets’ performance protecting a lead in the third was far better than anything they showed last season.

For starters, they didn’t turtle. There was no group effort to sink into a defensive circle and hope for the best. The Blue Jackets turtled too much last season, especially in the first two months, and paid a stiff price by going 2-2-11 in 15 games when they coughed up leads in the third. The Blue Jackets played a lot more aggressively in the third against the Avalanche and it showed.

Colorado buzzed in the Jackets’ zone while hanging onto the puck, but it didn’t lead to a lopsided disbursement of even-strength shots, which were even (7-7) or high-danger scoring chances, which favored the Blue Jackets (3-1). That’s how you close out wins while leading by multiple goals.

“It’s obviously nice to keep a lead, but to not sit back and just defend was exciting for us, as a (coaching) staff,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. “We stayed aggressive. We didn’t risk a whole lot, but we didn’t just shut down and go into a shell and just try to defend and block shots. Our guys played the game the right way.”

Young forwards give Columbus Blue Jackets another push

Four of the Blue Jackets’ six goals and 10 of their 16 points were tallied by players they recently drafted or signed as prospects.

Chinakhov recorded the second three-point game of his NHL career with a goal and two assists. Marchenko notched his third three-point game in the NHL and first that wasn’t a hat trick. Kent Johnson’s goal in the first was his second goal of the season and second in as many games.

Adam Fantilli scored a goal on his 20^th birthday. Even goalie Daniil Tarasov got into the act with an assist on Fantilli’s goal. It’s only two games, but the Blue Jackets’ young core has played with a confidence that just wasn’t consistently present the past couple years. It’s there now, and the veterans notice.

“You can see some of the young players on the team maturing quickly,” Monahan said. “They want to be impact players in the league, they want to be impact players on this team and we’re going to need them to step up every night to give ourselves a chance to win every night.”

Blue Jackets centers Fantilli, Monahan score birthday goals against Colorado Avalanche

Monahan and Fantilli share the same birthday, separated by 10 years. The former is now 30, while Fantilli turned 20 Saturday. Both scored to celebrate, including Monahan’s to seal the win after scoring into an empty net late in the third.

On that one, Marchenko got to a loose puck cleared by Chinakhov and carried it toward the net before pulling up for a short dish to set Monahan up with the honors.

“That’s what makes a team a ‘team,’” Monahan said. “You see a guy and you get another guy a touch, those little things go a long way, and I think that shows with ‘Marchy’ giving it to me.”

bhedger@dispatch.com

@BrianHedger

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: 6 takeaways from Columbus Blue Jackets win over Colorado Avalanche