The Colorado Avalanche had a week of exciting hockey, aside from all the continued injuries that have occured in the locker room. Nazem Kadri is the most recent victim of the injury bug. A significant loss for the club as he is having himself a career season with 83 points and will likely be out until playoffs according to head coach Jared Bednar. He will join the list of other banged up players, which include Gabriel Landeskog, Ryan Murray, Bo Byram, and Samuel Girard. His injury was speculated to be sustained from a blind side hit by Sharks Thomas Hertl in Thursday’s contest, where he appeared to be in discomfort after, although he played for the remainder of the game. This is a tough pill to swallow, but the good news is, he should be back for the playoffs. Nathan MacKinnon also had a bit of an injury scare with his hand after a fight with Wild’s Matt Dumba. He went on to miss only one game against the Flames before returning to the lineup. It wouldn’t be the Avs if they went into the playoffs healthy.
The Avalanche, who remain in 1st place in the entire league, took on their fierce divisional rival, the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center Sunday. Another physical affair against one another as both teams registered 35 hits throughout. Scoring surprisingly, wasn’t existent until late in the 2nd period when the exciting Kirrill Kaprizov capitalized on the power-play to get things started. The Avs responded relatively quickly in the 3rd period to tie it. Nazem Kadri added to his incredible year with another goal. Mikko Rantanen, who’s also having a career season, grabbed his 33rd goal on the man advantage. From there, the Wild went on to rally late with a tally to tie the game to force overtime. Kevin Fiala put the final touches on the comeback with a goal to earn the extra point to triumph over the Avalanche.
The trip continued North to Calgary to face-off against the Flames for the last time. Arturri Lehkenon made his highly anticipated Avalanche debut. Sparking the Flames offense in the 2nd period was the 5 on 3 power-play. Tyler Toffoli netted the one-timer for the 1-0 lead. It then became the Val Nichushkin and Darcy Kuemper show after. The Avs power-play connected 2 out of 3 times. Val Nichushkin was responsible for both of them to secure the 2-1 win. He himself is also having a great year with 19 goals on the season. Darcy Kuemper played sensational, stopping 44 of 45 shots. His play has picked up immensely over time, which is great news for the club heading towards the playoffs.
It’s back home for the Avs against the San Jose Sharks. Pavel Francouz got the start in net. The young Alex Newhook broke the ice in the 2nd period for his 12th of the year. Sharks responded on a delayed penalty to make it even at the end of the 2nd. Offense picked up in the 3rd period with Darren Helm potting his 6th. Brent Burn answered to tie it at 2 a side, just about 3 minutes later. Mikko Rantanen on the power-play took the 3-2 advantage over the Sharks. Then later in the period, Andre Burakovsky had the dagger for the 4-2 victory. The game was closer than they would’ve liked, but showed that they were the dominant team with a 3-goal 3rd period.
The last game of the week was an afternoon matinee contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Ball Arena. A playoff-like atmosphere with an exciting crowd to see the action at hand. The 1st period was full of chances, but no one was able to break through either goaltenders. Mikko Rantanen, seems to be ready for the baseball season coming up as he batted one in from the air to claim the 1-0 lead. Pens Captain Sidney Crosby even things up later in the period. 20 seconds later, former Flyer Nicolas Aube-Kubel reclaimed the advantage with a 95.7 MPH slap shot. An answer to this took a while until there was just a little less than 5 minute left in the affair, when Pens defenseman Michael Matheson tied it up late in the 3rd period. A tie game was presented in front of the standing room only crowd for just 27 second, as Devon Toews cashed in for the eventual game winner with 4:26 remaining for the 3-2 win. Darcy Kuemper stood tall for another great game against an elite opponent stopping 38 of 40 shots. His save percentage has exponentially increased to .925 with a goals against average of 2.37. Just a fantastic all around win without many of the Avs superstars.
Off to Pittsburgh are the Avs against a team who will look to get their revenge immediately. After Pittsburgh, the squad will head to Winnipeg and Edmonton before returning home. Playoffs are less than a month away, where we will see if all the trade-deadline transactions paid off. Many of the injuries the Avs had. Should be able to return just in time for the playoffs. I’m beyond excited to see how it all plays out.
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