*Photo from the Norman Transcript*
We're still getting reminded that guy is pretty good at hockey. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, Denis Malgin scored, and the Colorado Avalanche defeated Minnesota Wild with a 3-2 victory on Wednesday night in Saint Paul.
In 5 games since the All Star Break, MacKinnon has found the back of the net in all 5 games, running his goal tally for the season to 18. Malgin also scored in his second straight night, while Devon Toews was the only other multi point player thanks to a two assist game.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said of MacKinnon that "The bigger the moment, the better he plays. Last night, the night before, I thought he was great. And then tonight, he kind of led the charge for us, especially on the offensive side of it. Looked like he had good legs. He's making plays and getting dangerous on a bunch of occasions."
Colorado took a 1-0 lead after the first period, with Andrew Cogliano scoring his 9th goal of the season, with Toews and Sam Girard getting the assists. Early in the second period, Malgin scored his 4th goal of the season to double the lead to 2-0, with assists coming from MacKinnon and Josh Manson.
While on the power play 7:09 into the second, Joel Eriksson-Ek scored for the Wild, making the score 2-1 on his 21st goal of the season. MacKinnon then scored the eventual game winning goal with assists from Toews and Artturi Lehkonen to make it 3-1. Kirill Kaprizov scored in the 3rd period to cut the deficit to 3-2, but the Avalanche clamped down from there.
Getting the start in goal for the Avalanche was Alexandar Georgiev, who improved to 22-12-4 in 38 starts this season. Georgiev made 41 saves on the 43 shots he saw from the Wild, good for a .953 save percentage.
Georgiev said of the win postgame that "We know the standings and we know the other team is close to us. We knew it was three points for us, and kind of every game now for us now is playoff intensity. We know we have to get points and get higher up in the standings for sure."
Drawing the start for the Wild opposite Georgiev was Marc-Andre Fleury, who was unable to get a win. Fleury turned aside 16 out of the 19 shots on goal the Avalanche had, recording a .842 save percentage. His record now stands at 16-13-3 this season.
Wild head coach Dean Evason said of the loss that "Obviously, it's a results league and we're ticked off that we didn't get two points. How do you not feel good about the way you played, right? Yeah, we're frustrated with the end result and they'll be very mad and disappointed, which is great. They'll come back hungry and ready to go."
Up next, the Wild get back in action on Friday night with a home showdown against the Dallas Stars, with Filip Gustavsson projected to start. Georgiev is the projected starter for the Avalanche when they take on the St. Louis Blues on Saturday afternoon.
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