LAS VEGAS – The Colorado Avalanche haven’t had to trail much this season, but when they have, they’ve shown they’re never truly out of a game. Saturday night was a good example of that.
Colorado came back from three deficits, two of which were multi-goal deficits, to force overtime against the Vegas Golden Knights before winning their first shootout of the season by a score of 6-5. Artturi Lehkonen, who has a history of scoring important goals for this team, tied the game up with just under two minutes remaining in regulation.
After three days off for the Christmas break, the Avalanche were sloppy with the puck for the first 40 minutes before really cranking things up in the third. They outshot the Golden Knights 19-6 in the third period and overtime.
“I just think we were playing well,” Nathan MacKinnon said after the game. “We thought we were outplaying them…we just kept going and grinded that one out.”
Deficits have been rare for the Avalanche this year, but this is now their second come-from-behind victory of the season. Scott Wedgewood has as good a view as anyone on the team for a win like that and knows this team is never out of it.
“You don’t want to be in those situations, but I think with our star power, when teams start playing with leads and dumping pucks in and giving us possession more, it’s going to hurt eventually,” Wedgewood said. “Eventually, we found a way to do it tonight. Not going to be the case every time, but you don’t want to be in those situations.”
Shootouts aren’t important when the playoffs roll around, but they are in the regular season when every game matters. Colorado entered the game having lost all four shootouts they played in this season, but were able to get the monkey off their back against the Golden Knights.
Jared Bednar tried something different, using Ross Colton as his first shooter, before leaning on his star players. Martin Necas scored a pretty goal while falling to the ice on his attempt before MacKinnon scored the game-winner.
“We’ve been in a bunch of them and we haven’t scored a lot,” Bednar said. “Tonight we were able to get a couple, so good win for us.”
With the win, the Avalanche extended their lead yet again in the Central Division, as the Dallas Stars lost in overtime earlier in the evening. They’re now six points ahead of the Stars with two games in hand.
Avalanche 6, Golden Knights 5
What happened: Colorado came back from down 2-0, 4-2, and 5-4 to win their first shootout.
What went right: Colorado’s third pair was tremendous, spending most of their night in the offensive zone of the Golden Knights. Sam Girard and Sam Malinski combined for five points on the night.
What went wrong: The other two defensive pairs weren’t so great, but the forwards also struggled defensively. Three of Vegas’ goals came off the rush, two of which were a Vegas player just beating an Avalanche forward to the puck.
Avalanche goal scorers: Girard (3), Necas (17, 18), MacKinnon (31), Lehkonen (14)
Golden Knights goal scorers: Holtz (1), Barbashev (12), Hutton (5), Howden (7), Sissons (3)
Between the pipes: Scott Wedgewood stopped 20 of 25 shots for yet another win.
What’s next: Colorado returns home to host the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, 7 p.m.