Tonight’s game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild capped off a very busy trade deadline week for Colorado. Ultimately, it would be the Avalanche coming out on top with a 2-1 win in overtime.
Let’s break down all the action from tonight!
First Period
You always want to strike first and strike quickly against any opponent, especially the ones that are on the second leg of a back-to-back. That’s exactly what Colorado did to start this game. Just 0:42 into the first period, Jonathan Drouin started this play by battling for a puck in the corner. He was able to cause a turnover and passed the puck behind the net to where Nathan MacKinnon was waiting. At that point, Artturi Lehkonen found the soft spot in the middle of the ice right in front of the Wild net. MacKinnon passed the puck out in front to Lehkonen, who managed to find the back of the net.
Second Period
Both teams would continue to exchange some good chances throughout the start of this period, but ultimately the Wild would tie this game up. In what was ultimately a bit of a defensive breakdown for the Avs, Kirill Kaprizov would start this play by engaging in a puck battle in the corner. He would ultimately come away with the puck, and find Brock Faber on the opposite end of the zone, who was completely wide open and had all kinds of time and space to work with. He would rip the puck past Alexandar Georgiev at the 10:44 mark.
Third Period
Mats Zuccarello was awarded a penalty shot in this period after Andrew Cogliano accidentally pushed a broken stick that was lying on the ice into his way during play. However, Georgiev stood tall and denied Zuccarello to keep the score tied 1-1.
Kaprizov also had a handful of quality looks, including a clean breakaway with about five minutes remaining in regulation. Georgiev would once again deny the Wild the go-ahead goal to give Colorado a chance to ultimately win the game.
At a point, it looked like Colorado had taken the lead in this game when Samuel Girard found Devon Toews with a shot-pass that Toews deflected into the net. However, the play was challenged and it was determined to be offsides, so the score stayed 1-1. From there, would head to overtime after the conclusion of regulation to decide this game
Overtime
Welcome back, Valeri Nichushkin. Colorado was awarded a powerplay in this overtime period after Kaprizov took a hooking penalty against Cale Makar. The Avs had some decent looks throughout the 4-on-3 advantage, but it would be Nichushkin who would finish the job for Colorado at the 2:32 mark in the overtime period. Mikko Rantanen initially passed the puck down in front of the net for Nichushkin. The puck would take a couple of funny bounces, but he maintained his net front position and managed to tuck it home for the 2-1 win.
Yeti Takeaways
One game is an incredibly small sample size to judge the new trade deadline acquisitions on and they’ll hopefully look more and more comfortable as time goes on, but they all looked pretty solid tonight. Sean Walker had a couple of quality defensive plays throughout this game, and the skill is immediately noticeable with Casey Mittelstadt. Perhaps the most important thing to note with this Avs team as a whole as we get closer and closer to the playoffs, they looked incredibly fast and dangerous. That’s how they like to play as a team, to begin with, but it’s going to be important to play that way consistently down the stretch and in the playoffs.
Georgiev was feeling it tonight, too. He ultimately stopped 29 of 30 shots, for a .967 save percentage on the night. It’s phenomenal to see him have a fantastic game that wasn’t ultimately wasted. You’ll probably remember the game against the New York Rangers back on February 5, where that exact scenario played out. Instead of wasting an outstanding effort from your goaltender and finding a way to lose a 2-1 game, Colorado flipped the script here tonight and found a way to win a tight game. It’s hard not to be encouraged by that change, and hopefully, they can find a way to consistently do that down the stretch.
Quickly speaking of things to be encouraged by, Colorado didn’t go away in this game. There were plenty of points throughout this game where Minnesota was heavily pressuring to get the go-ahead goal, and the Avs managed to survive them. They also didn’t get discouraged when what looked to be their own go-ahead goal was called back. Instead, they just kept working and were ultimately rewarded.
Next on the Mountain
The Avalanche have three days off after tonight and will kick off a four-game road trip against the Calgary Flames on March 12. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m. MT.