It wasn’t perfect, but it was entertaining hockey. The kind of night where the Avalanche would not go away.
After trailing three times, twice by multiple goals, the Avalanche outlasted the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, winning 6-5 in a shootout at T-Mobile Arena.
What a way to kick off a post-holiday-break, pre-Olympic sprint.
“It wasn’t a perfect game from us, that’s for sure, but we kept fighting,” head coach Jared Bednar told reporters in Vegas. “Guys played with a lot of heart.”
Martin Necas had two goals. Samuel Girard, Nathan MacKinnon, and Artturi Lehkonen each had one for Colorado, which won its seventh consecutive game and improved to 28-2-7.
After already overcoming a 2-0 deficit, the Avs entered the third period down 4-2. They tied it up, but conceded yet another go-ahead goal to Colton Sissons with four minutes remaining. At risk of suffering their third regulation loss of the season, Colorado pulled its goalie and put out a talented six-man attack.
Their best players moved the puck well, and MacKinnon found Lehkonen in the slot from his usual spot on the half wall to beat Carter Hart with 1:57 remaining in regulation. Somehow, the Avs had a couple more looks to try to get ahead before the third period ended.
Overtime was as entertaining a five minutes as we’ve seen all year. The Avs had all three shots in the extra frame but could not score. And that didn’t include a shot off the post from Brock Nelson.
Then, they did the unthinkable by winning their first shootout of the year.
Both Necas and MacKinnon scored in the shootout, and goalie Scott Wedgewood, who didn’t have his best night in regulation, stopped three of four to obtain his league-leading 17th win of the season. Wedgewood finished with 20 saves.
Sam Malinski had three assists, all of which were primary. MacKinnon also had two helpers to go along with his goal, and Girard added a multi-point night of his own (goal, assist).
The first period wasn’t great for the Avs, but it wasn’t bad by any means. Colorado looked rusty and like a team that hadn’t skated in three days and had flown in 10 hours before puck drop. But the only goal Bednar’s club surrendered was a set play by Alexander Holtz after a clean faceoff win for the Knights in the offensive zone.
Holtz redirected a fake-shot pass by Noah Hanifin at 2:43 to make it 1-0 Vegas.
The second period was far and away Colorado’s worst. And it wasn’t close.
Just as the period began, Devon Toews mishandled a pass from MacKinnon, which sent Mitch Marner and Ivan Barbashev in on a two-on-one against Cale Makar. The two forwards played give and go, ending with a Barbashev goal just 34 seconds in.
Trailing 2-0, the Avs started to gain momentum. They had good looks, but they were also uncharacteristically turning the puck over. Finally, a pair of pinball deflection goals just 5:08 apart tied the game up.
First Girard got a pass from Malinski and tried to get it to Lehkonen between the hashmarks. The puck deflected off of Knights defender Jeremy Lauzon and past Hart to put the Avalanche on the board.
The replay looked like it could have been deflected in, behind the back, by Lehkonen. But Girard was credited with his third goal of the season and second in as many games.
The second tally was credited to Necas, who got a pass from Malinski and shot it toward the goal. It hit Vegas’ Kaeden Korczak and beat Hart.
Unfortunately for the Avs, the defensive breakdowns were too much to overcome. Within 1:38 of Necas’ tally, the Knights got two more past Wedgewood. First, it was Ben Hutton, then Brett Howden, to restore the Golden Knights’ two-goal lead. The shots were 19 apiece through two periods.
Colorado had 20 minutes to avoid a third regulation loss, and it brought its best effort in that final frame to do precisely that. The top line put its stamp on the game.
Necas got his second of the game by firing a powerful snipe past Hart upon entering the zone and getting a drop pass from MacKinnon at 3:52. Less than five minutes later, MacKinnon cleaned up a loose puck in the blue paint after Malinski’s point shot started to trickle in.
The Avs outshot Vegas 16-6 in the third period, despite giving up that late Sissons goal. They improved to 13-2-5 on the road and 2-0-0 against the Knights, both of which were played at T-Mobile Arena.
Good: Malinski Does It Again
After Tuesday’s game, I wrote an entire column centered around the elevated play of the Malinski and Girard pairing. On Friday, they took it to the next level yet again.
It felt like every time the Avalanche gained the zone with a clean entry, it was Malinski and Girard on the back end. Malinski, specifically, felt like the primary puck mover in this one. He played 19:11, which was third on the team behind the top pair.
And he earned every moment of that ice time.
“They really helped us out on the offensive side of it with some extended zone time,” Bednar said.
Bad: Rush Goals
The Avs gave up three rush goals in this game. And they were as uncharacteristic as ever. On two of the Knights’ tallies, they were able to skate by both Valeri Nichushkin and Necas to get to Wedgewood. And the Avalanche’s netminder didn’t make many huge stops to steal a goal.
It was also a forgettable night for the Brent Burns and Josh Manson pairing. Burns played just 17 minutes and was a -3. That was part of the reason why Bednar ran the Girard and Malinski as much as he did in the third.
There was a lot of bad in this game in general. But for the Avs to still tough it out and get two points is a good sign.
