Recap: Avalanche erupt for four-goal period in impressive win over Panthers

Mikko Rantanen led the way for the Avs with a four-point night.

Let’s go streaking!

The Colorado Avalanche defeated the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers by a final score of 7-4 Saturday evening. Coming off of a grindy win in DC against the Washington Capitals, the Avs were looking to put together a more complete performance against a tough opponent tonight.

The Avs delivered in a massive way, dismantling the Cats on the back of a 4-point night from Mikko Rantanen. Jonathan Drouin and Samuel Girard also played pivotal roles on the way to victory, as Colorado improved to 3-0-0 on the road trip.

Let’s get into the game.

First Period

Coming into the defending champ’s building, it was important to get off to a strong start, something the Avs have struggled with often in this young season. The Panthers lost a lot of crucial pieces to their cup team, including Brandon Montour, Anthony Duclair, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson among others, but are still a deep, lethal team that can play a variety of styles.

The Avs had their work cut out for them early, as the Panthers opened the scoring on their first shot of the contest, only 52 seconds in. Coming off the stick of Carter Verhaeghe, the shot from the right circle went top shelf over the shoulder of Alexandar Georgiev, and the Avs saw themselves down in the opening minutes of a game once again, 1-0 Panthers.

The Avs weathered the storm well following the goal, keeping the Florida crowd quiet through the early portion of the opening frame. Just over nine minutes into the frame, Colorado found their answer, as Jonathan Drouin was credited with redirecting home a seeing-eye Cale Makar shot from the point. The goal stood as Drouin’s first of the season, and the Avs were back in an even game 1-1.

Shortly after, a neutral zone giveaway by Valeri Nichuskin granted the Panthers’ top line an opportunity to attack, and shortly after, an ill-advised pass out of the corner from Josh Manson compromised the Avs once again. After Evan Rodrigues failed to beat Georgiev in tight, the Panthers retained possession, and eventually, their Captain, Aleksander Barkov batted home a rebound out of mid-air to reclaim the Panthers’ lead at 2-1, with just under five minutes to play in the opening frame.

The Avs had their chances late in the period. A nice stretch pass from Sam Malinski sprung Mikko Rantanen on a mini breakaway, but his wrister from the circle was smothered effortlessly by the glove of Bobrovsky. Moments later, the fourth line generated an odd-man rush from the neutral zone, as Nikolai Kovalenko made a nice play to spring himself and Parker Kelly, but Bobrovsky again read the play all the way, following Kovalenko’s feed to Kelly, as well as Kelly’s shot. The Avs skated into the dressing room down a goal after the opening 20.

Second Period

A converse start to the second period, the Avs came out with all the energy, and like the Panthers, were able to generate an opening-minute goal.

Only 30 seconds into the frame, the Avs cycle got to work, and Makar picked up his second assist of the night on a beautiful feed to Drouin, who collected the puck and outwaited Bobrovsky before backhanding the puck into a wide-open cage for his second of the contest. While Nichushkin still looks a bit rusty in his return to play, Drouin’s game is picking up quickly, and his goal put the Avs back into a tie game at two goals a piece.

A few minutes later, the Avs depth entered the conversation as the Avs began to dictate the pace of play. Oliver Kylington stretched Logan O’Connor for a breakaway at the Panthers’ blue line. and LOC ripped a shot bar down over Bobrovsky’s right shoulder. The Avs’s second-period dominance continued on, and they were on top for the first time in the contest 3-2.

The Avs continued to pressure into the midway portion of the game, and their pressure turned into some luck. Samuel Girard fired a wrister from the point that deflected off of two Panther legs before entering the net. The puck hit up top and was projecting wide right of the net before deflecting in off the leg of Dimitry Kulikov, who was engaged in a net-front battle with Casey Mittelstadt. The Avs were off and running, suddenly seeing themselves up 4-2 midway through the contest.

The Avalanche of goals did not stop there, as about 8 minutes later, the Avs pulled a highlight reel-worthy goal out of their arsenal, with Devon Toews finding Girard, and Sammy finding Mikko Rantanen parked net-front ready to tap the puck home for his team-leading 14th goal of the season. With a four-goal period and a 5-2 lead, the Avs were running away with the contest.

Shortly after the Rantanen goal, the first penalty of the game was called on Rookie Ivan Ivan, who tripped a man in pursuit of a loose puck and sent the Cats to the man advantage.

Only 40 seconds into the power play, Sam Reinhart redirected an Aaron Ekblad point shot past Georgiev for his team-leading 16th goal of the season. Reinhart, who scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal last June, continues to be a steal of an acquisition for the Panthers. The goal was huge for the Panthers, cutting into the three-goal lead late in the second frame.

Despite the solid period, it was important for Colorado to keep the momentum on their side. A late goal didn’t help, but the three-goal cushion afforded the Avs a mistake. They needed to stay sharp to close the final period.

Third Period

Coming into the final frame, the Panthers were going to come with their best punch for the final 20 minutes. They came out of the intermission physical, fast, and were rewarded with another powerplay a little over 3 minutes into the frame. Artturi Lehkonen was called for a holding the stick penalty, and the Panthers had a chance to cut the Avs lead in half.

Just under a minute into the kill, Toews blocked a shot off of his foot and momentarily exited. Fortunately for Toews, he only had to walk off the pain. Unfortunately for the Avs, they took another penalty moments later, with Manson going for a hook on Barkov. The Avs were suddenly on a 5-on-3 penalty kill against a dangerous powerplay unit.

It didn’t take long for the Panthers to execute, with Aaron Ekblad firing home a seeing-eye shot through a bunch of traffic. Amongst that traffic was Matthew Tkachuk, who was standing inside the blue paint, and the officials subsequently ruled no goal on the ice due to Tkachuk’s impeding of Georgiev.

Panthers Head Coach, Paul Maurice, challenged the call on the ice in an attempt to overturn the call into a good goal, but to no avail. The Panthers were given a delay of game penalty for the failed challenge, and granted the Avs a massive break, dropping the man advantage to a Panthers 4-on-3 power play, which Colorado survived.

Shortly after, tempers flared, with Tkachuk attempting to dig a puck out from between Georgiev’s pads, to which Miles Wood took exception. The Panthers were given their first penalty of the contest, but in offsetting fashion, with officials sending both Tkachuk and Wood to the box.

On the 4-on-4, the Panthers continued to push, with Malinski having his pocket picked by Verhaeghe, who was robbed of his second goal of the contest by Georgiev. The Avs got back to even strength, and two minutes closer to skating out of Sunrise with an impressive victory.

Despite shutting down the offensive process late to sit on the lead, the Avs took advantage of one of the few opportunities they generated. The Avs entered the Panthers zone, where Rantanen and Nichushkin got to work down low. Nichushkin found Kylington streaking in, and Kylington sniped home his first of the season, to put the defending champs away.

Nichushkin added an empty netter to make the score 7-3, before a garbage time goal from Panthers forward Anton Lundell made the final score 7-4.

Takeaways

The Avs continued their dominance of teams in the second period tonight, posting a four-goal period on the Panthers on the way to victory. This has been a trend of the Avs since last season, and if they can figure out the start of games, they’re a force to be reckoned with.

Samuel Girard continues to stand out to me this season, and he was their best defenseman by bounds tonight. With two points and some solid defensive breakups, Girard is playing some of the best hockey of his career right now. He’s doing so while stapled next to Josh Manson, who continues to struggle with puck management. It would be huge for the Avs if Girard can continue to play like he has early on this season.

Cale Makar posted his 100th career multi-point game tonight, tallying primary assists on both Jonathan Drouin goals. He accomplished this feat in only 336 NHL games, adding another accolade to what has already been a Hall of Fame-worthy career. He did block a shot off of his foot late in the contest and appeared to be in a lot of pain on the bench. He was not needed for another shift, as there were only a couple of minutes remaining in the contest. Like Toews earlier in the game, this looked like nothing more than a stinger and that Makar will be fine in the long run, but his status will be something to monitor ahead of Monday’s contest.

Upcoming

The Avs will be back in action on Monday evening to wrap up their four-game road trip against the Tampa Bay Lightning. This will be their third visit to Tampa since winning the Stanley Cup on Amalie Arena ice in the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals.

The Lightning dominated the previous two matchups, outscoring the Avs by a combined score of 11-3 in those two contests. The club still boasts tremendous talent despite the continued loss of key pieces to their championship core, most recently their longtime Captain, Steven Stamkos.

Puck drop is slated for 5:00 p.m. MT. Viewers can catch the contest on Altitude 2, Altitude+, and ESPN+.