The Colorado Avalanche came into the game against a struggling Los Angeles Kings team looking to pick up their third consecutive victory in the final game before the All-Star Break.
Before the recap, it’s important to acknowledge the Pride Night celebration that the Avs hosted tonight as they took on the Kings. The Avalanche always do a nice job celebrating the LGBTQ+ community and this year was no different. The Pride Night celebrations are fun but it’s essential to remember hockey truly is for everyone, even when there aren’t dedicated nights for it.
Recap
It was another slow start for the Avalanche as they faced a dejected Kings team desperate to get back on the horse before the break.
Colorado stood tall and kept the game at zeros before Logan O’Connor walked down and wired a shot post and in past Cam Talbot’s glove. It was a big goal for the team to get in front and frustrate the Kings who had a good start until then. Alexandar Georgiev also picked up his second assist of the season on the play.
Picking up his fourth goal in three games wasn’t enough for O’Connor. Yet again he was the man finishing off the stellar all-around work from his “Roaring Twenties” line. Ross Colton mucked it up in the corner to get the puck to Miles Wood who in a matter of nanoseconds found O’Connor open at the faceoff circle. The man who already set a new career high in goals less than fifty games into the season increased his tally even higher with another great shot.
There’s been a trend for the Avalanche lately where two guys have been scoring lots of goals. One of those men was the aforementioned O’Connor. The other is the widely mentioned Nathan MacKinnon. After putting up four goals the other night MacKinnon kept his season-long home point streak alive with another goal. MacKinnon danced across the high slot and snuck a shot past Talbot’s blocker to give him his seventh goal in three games. Ball Arena and the Avalanche were feeling it as the team carried a three-goal lead into the second period.
The Los Angeles Kings had just blown a three-goal lead the other night against the Buffalo Sabres so they were fully aware they were not out of the game yet. That belief got even stronger as the Kings got a powerplay six minutes into the second and Kevin Fiala ripped a one-timer past Georgiev to cut the Avs lead to two.
Shortly after the goal Fiala took a double minor for high-sticking Devon Toews behind the Avalanche net. The Kings first rated penalty kill came through and they almost got a giant momentum swing when Kevin Fiala was sprung on a breakaway out of the box. Georgiev saved Fiala’s attempt with his left pad and stayed strong as Fiala even got a few more wacks at it until Jack Johnson cleaned him off the puck.
This woke up the Avs. They got back on the hunt in search of a fourth goal. It didn’t take them long to get it when Josh Manson and Andrew Cogliano executed a nice give-and-go on the ever-rare four-on-two. Cogliano gave the puck to Manson as he was cutting toward the net from the wall and Manson fired the shot past David Rittich who replaced Talbot in the intermission.
Manson’s goal looked like it squashed any hope the Kings had of coming back in this game. If it didn’t then, Cale Makar’s powerplay goal thirty seconds into the third period certainly did. It was a rare “ugly” Makar goal as he fired a puck from the point looking for a tip and Drew Doughty tipped it off the ice and past his goaltender.
The Avs had a four-goal lead but there was certainly plenty of time left for the Kings to make it a hockey game. However, both teams spent significant time on the powerplay and the Avs defense and Georgiev gave the Kings nothing. The final half of the period was purely obligatory for both teams as the Avs cruised to their second 5-1 win over the Kings this season.
Yeti Takeaways
This was a pretty casual win for the Avs. Feels like I can just copy and paste whatever was written about the last two games into this section and most people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. The top six was great for the Avs and got them another win. It just blows my mind how good this team is when they’re rested. I’m vastly curious to see what they will look like after the All-Star Break when they have a week off under their belts and are consistently getting two to three days of rest down the stretch. That and whatever they do at the deadline could make this team deadly.
I will give special shoutouts to Manson and Georgiev. Manson has been pretty solid all year and has shown he’s an incredibly valuable asset to this team’s blue line when he stays healthy like he has. The defense and offense driving have been big but scoring the way he has, that’s just gravy.
Georgiev took a lot of flack for his play, and rightfully so. He wasn’t good enough. But he’s strung together two great games. It’s no surprise that he’s gotten back to the player we saw last year and parts of this year when he got to take days off. Let’s just hope he gets more of that after the break and can keep his stats climbing.
Also, Sam Girard is still dope.
Next on the Mountain
The Avs are off for quite some time but Georgiev, MacKinnon, and Makar are all heading to the All-Star Game in a little under a week and Puck Yeti will have you covered. The next game isn’t until Monday, February 5 against the New York Rangers.