With fists of fury, Avs defenseman Josh Manson got the rough-and-tumble part of the Gordie Howe hat trick out of the way early.

From his first jump over the boards, he took the ice, itching for a fight. Why?

“To spark us,” said Manson, explaining his not-so-subtle motive for starting (and finishing) an old-time hockey fight with Ottawa’s Tyler Kleven barely two minutes after the puck dropped in the opening period.

Mission accomplished.

On a Colorado winter night when there was a chill in the air and tempers ran hot at the rink, the Avs snapped a rare two-game losing streak by pummeling Ottawa 8-2 Thursday.

It was Manson who did the heaviest damage.

“Wow!” said Avs coach Jared Bednar, putting a comic-book exclamation point on the “Pow!” and “Bam!” delivered by Manson.

With his father among the crowd in Ball Arena, Manson put a dent in the Senators by scoring four points in a game for the first time in his 12-year NHL career.

“That was fun. I don’t think (Dad) has ever seen that before,” said Manson, laughing. “He’s seen me fight. He’s seen me score. But he’s never seen that … actually, nobody’s ever seen that out of me before.”

How one-sided was this rumble?

Well, by early in the second period, Manson already was the proud owner of a Gordie Howe hat trick.

One fight, one goal and one assist.

It’s named in honor of the toughest son of a gun to ever lace up skates.

Instead of tossing chapeaus on the ice, as is done out of respect for any chap that scores three goals in a game, I’ve always thought the Howe hat trick should be saluted by throwing back shots of Canadian whisky.

Manson “had a Gordie Howe hat trick early in the second period ,” Bednar said, “and he kept coming.”

We’re barely halfway through the regular season, and it’s no longer even an argument who has the most talented team in the NHL.

Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Devon Toews.

Any questions?

Didn’t think so.

Depending on where you book a bet, Colorado is listed as the prohibitive favorite to win the Stanley Cup, with current odds as low as +250. In a 32-team league, that’s mad respect for the Avs.

But the NHL playoffs, a two-month grind requiring 16 victories to hoist the Cup, requires more than talent.

It takes true grit.

Since Colorado won the league title in 2022, there’s no polite way to say it:

When the going has gotten tough in the playoffs, the Avs have gone home.

In 2023, Colorado collapsed after Valeri Nichushkin went AWOL in Seattle.

The next season, our old friend Matt Duchene twisted the dagger with an overtime goal for Dallas that eliminated the Avs.

And last year was the worst choke job of ‘em all, when Colorado took a 2-0 lead early in the final period of Game 7, only to be wiped out by former teammate Mikko Rantanen in a four-goal flurry that had the Avs seeing Stars.

An avalanche of injuries, including the lingering aches and pains currently keeping captain Gabe Landeskog, Toews and goalie Mackenzie Blackwood out of the lineup, hasn’t stopped Colorado from rolling.

“I think we’re going to be tested,” said Manson, noting the big talent of Landeskog and Toews on the shelf. “This is the first step in building that mental fortitude.”

Now is the time to develop the callouses that will serve the Avs well in the playoffs. Are they mentally tough enough?

What the Avs will need in addition to good health to do serious playoff damage is the kind of don’t-mess-with-us mettle that Manson can bring to the postseason, where fights are rare but physical, bone-rattling hockey is commonplace.

If you ask me, Manson was the unsung hero of the Avalanche’s championship in 2022 that deserved more music singing his praises.

And Manson’s fists of stones can also exhibit a deft touch.

He opened the scoring for Colorado with a seeing-eye goal midway through the first period. Then Manson served up helpers to Makar and Brent Burns. Just for fun, he celebrated the first four-point game of his 12-year NHL career with another goal of his own during a second period when the Avalanche scored by the half dozen, and faster than Krispy Kreme makes doughnuts.

With the game so far out of hand that the Senators felt a need to defend their manhood, Ottawa center Tim Stutzle demanded that skinny defenseman Sam Girard put up his dukes in the third period.

Bad idea. Girard knocked the snot out of Stutzle.

And when Girard was sent to the sin bin for his rough-housing, guess who was the last Colorado teammate to offer him a congratulatory fist pump before the door to the penalty box was closed?

Manson.

“Got my two cents in,” Manson said. “Telling (Girard) he did a good job.”