The stars showed up to erase a 2-0 deficit.
To begin a four-game homestand the Colorado Avalanche welcomed one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference in the Carolina Hurricanes. Perhaps taking an assist from the weather gods in the form of a Carolina travel delay, the Avalanche wore out the Hurricanes in a frenetic second period comeback and secured a 6-4 victory.
The Game
It was a tepid start for the Avalanche against a team that does very well in controlling the puck. Carolina got their first goal before Colorado registered a shot on net. Jack Drury took advantage of some lax defense from the bottom six forwards and got on the board at 9:02. The two teams traded two power plays each but neither squad found the back of the net to arrive at a 1-0 Carolina lead after one period. With shots in favor of Carolina 14-6 as well Colorado needed to find another gear to their game.
Early in the second period Carolina added to their lead when Jordan Martinook scored at 4:38 just after rookie Nikita Prishchepov struck iron on the other end of the ice. Things looked to go from bad to worse when the Avalanche took a penalty shortly after but at 9:13 a Cale Makar slapshot shorthanded goal (you read that right) gave his team some much-needed life. It wasn’t long before Sam Malinski deposited a juicy rebound off of a Nathan MacKinnon shot at 10:57 and suddenly the game was tied.
There was another bump in the road when Carolina grabbed the lead back again when Martin Necas converted on the power play at 12:26 but from then on the Avalanche began to take advantage of their former teammate Spencer Martin in the opposing net.
MacKinnon won a puck battle and barreled his way to the net for a score at 15:49 and just a minute later Artturi Lehkonen tipped a puck into the cage which Carolina unsuccessfully challenged for MacKinnon interfering with the goaltender. Then on the ensuing delay of game power play MacKinnon got high-sticked and just as the 5-on-3 expired Mikko Rantanen scored at 18:49. After that flurry of activity the Avalanche ended the period with a 5-3 lead.
To start the third period the Avalanche enjoyed a two minute shift in the offensive zone but Carolina scored just right after on another tally by Martinook at 2:50 to make the game interesting again. There wasn’t much danger from Carolina the rest of the period, however and the Avalanche sealed the victory with an empty net goal from Rantanen in this 6-4 Avalanche win.
Takeaways
This was the second time this season Colorado has won in which they didn’t score first (the other was the win against Anahiem). Clearly the Makar goal really ignited the team but slow starts have plagued the team all year. It was good to see the top players re-energized and fuel their fire to take over the game but they need to figure out how to stoke the flames in other situations.
It was also encouraging to see the team not get rattled when Carolina got back in the game early in the third period. Calmly executing and winding down the clock are hallmarks of a mature game and the Avalanche still have that in the toolbox. Of course all four of Makar, MacKinnon, Rantanen and Lahkonen each played at least 25 minutes in this contest to secure that all-important win.
It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Alexandar Georgiev started this game after a strong performance in Winnipeg. Although he gave up four goals in this contest, Georgiev made 27 saves and didn’t give up the lead once the Avalanche grabbed it. For an organization seemingly looking for any reason to trust their top netminder again this performance should do enough to get him back in the crease for the next while.
Upcoming
The homestand continues with a rematch against the Nashville Predators at 7 p.m. MT on Monday, November 11th.