The Hurricanes outshot the Avs 28-12 in the first two periods and that set the tone for most of the game.
The Carolina Hurricanes attacked the Colorado Avalanche early and often. That dictated most of the action Thursday at Lenovo Center.
The Hurricanes dominated possession time en route to a 5-3 victory in Scott Wedgewood’s first start for the Avalanche. Unlike his first relief appearance against Buffalo on Tuesday. there was no magical comeback, but there was a valiant effort. Wedgewood stopped 22 shots in that game, but the Hurricanes never relented.
Colorado, in the meanwhile, struggled to mount offensive pressure, and as they’ve done all season, repeatedly turned the puck over in their own zone. However, Valeri Nichushkin, in his 10th game since returning from a six-month suspension gave the Avalanche hope in the third period with his fourth goal of the season.
But not only was it too little too late, Colorado continued to make silly mistakes, as they were busted for having too many men on the ice. Carolina responded by scoring on the power play. But Nichushkin refused to give up, adding another goal with Wedgewood pulled for his fifth of the season and second of the game. But it was all for naught, as the Canes put in the empty net with 16 seconds left to close the show.
First Period
The Avs hardly had the puck in the opening period of play, but to their credit, they made the most of their opportunities. Artturi Lehkonen beat Canes netminder Pyotr Kochetkov at 9:13 to give Colorado a 1-0 lead. The goal was Lehkonen’s sixth goal in 15 games this season.
Wedgewood was stout, but at some point, a puck was bound to trickle by. It happened at 16:05 of the period when Eric Robinson deflected a shot from Brett Burns to tie the game at 1.
Second Period
The second period was very similar to the first, except the Hurricanes took over the lead. Seth Jarvis was left all alone at the top of the right circle and scored easily on the power play at 4:09 of the frame.
Casey Mittelstadt has a rough game. He was the man penalized leading up to the Jarvis PP goal. Once things were back to even strength, Mittelstadt coughed up the puck in the defensive zone, which led to another score. Jack Roslovic blasted home a one-timer off a pass from Andrew Svechnikov to give the Canes a 3-1 advantage at 6:41 of the second.
Third Period
Led by Nichushkin, who has been Colorado’s unsung hero over the last 10 games, led his club on another furious rally, but his efforts came up short.
Martin Nečas and Svechnikov were credited with the final two goals for Carolina. Wedgewood finished with 30 saves.
Takeaways
Goaltending was not the issue tonight. Wedgewood kept them in the game, especially in the first period, when the Avalanche were getting outplayed from pillar to post, with the exception of the Lehkonen goal.
The penalty kill also needs to be better. Nearly half of the sins committed by Colorado resulted in power-play goals. And of course, as we’ve stated all season, the defense needs to tighten up. We’re turning over the puck in our zone at an alarming rate.
The team needs to do better overall. Nichushkin continues to prove the naysayers wrong, including myself, but we can’t just rely on him to mount these rallies. This team has work to do.
Upcoming
Colorado continues the next leg of their road trip. They square off against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday at Little Caesars Arena. Puck drop is at 5 p.m. MT.