*Photo from the Durango Herald*
A heat wave is rolling through Colorado. Mikko Rantanen had two goals and an assist, Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, and the Colorado Avalanche stomped the Columbus Blue Jackets with a 6-1 win on Friday night in Denver.
Thanks to 9 wins in their last 10 games and an 8 game winning streak, the Avalanche have stormed their way to the top of the Central Division. They got multi point games from Rantanen, Jonathan Drouin, Cale Makar, and MacKinnon, who extended his home point streak to 33 games.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said of MacKinnon that "I love coaching the guy because he brings an intensity and a drive to his game that's like unmatched in my opinion in the League. The streak is a result of all the hard work and dedication that he brings to the game on a nightly basis. There's not a guy on that bench that didn't know he hadn't had a point yet, and then when he got it, everyone was pretty happy."
It was the Blue Jackets who got on the board first in this one. Damon Severson scored his 7th goal of the season 4:28 into the game to make it 1-0 Blue Jackets, assisted by Johnny Gaudreau and Boone Jenner. Makar answered back for the Avalanche, contributing his 18th goal of the season to make it 1-1 with Drouin and Artturi Lehkonen assisting.
Ross Colton gave the Avalanche the lead for good in the second period, scoring his 15th goal of the season 5:43 into the frame with help from Miles Wood and Zach Parise. Rantanen made it a 3-1 lead 1:24 later on his 38th goal of the season, assisted by Josh Manson and Samuel Girard.
MacKinnon scored 6:01 into the 3rd period to increase the Avalanche lead to 4-1, assisted by Makar on his 43rd goal of the season. Drouin and MacKinnon assisted on a power play goal from Rantanen later in the period to make it 5-1. At the 13:38 mark of the 3rd, Valeri Nichushkin picked up his 26th goal of the season, giving the Avalanche a 6-1 win.
Rantanen said after the game that "I think a little bit sleepy start, maybe, to the game, and gave up a little bit too much for them maybe, but I think we still had control of the game. I think second period was obviously our best. I think in the in the third, the score got away a little bit. So then maybe gave up too many chances, but Georgie was making big saves."
It was Alexandar Georgiev who got the start in goal for the Avalanche, getting credit for the win to improve to 36-15-3 in 54 starts. Georgiev stopped all but one of the 24 shots he was tested with, good for a .958 save percentage.
Getting the start between the pipes for Columbus and taking the loss was Elvis Merzlikins, who now has a 12-16-8 record over 38 starts. Merzlikins made 45 saves out of the 51 shots on goal he was peppered with by the Avalanche, giving him a .882 save percentage.
Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent said of the loss that "They were way faster than us tonight. You can tell why that team is contending for and hoping for a long, long run in the playoffs. That's a real good hockey team. You're not allowed to make mistakes, and you've got to compete for every single puck."
Daniil Tarasov is set to start in goal for the Blue Jackets as they face the Vegas Golden Knights Saturday night to finish a back to back. The Avalanche host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday with Georgiev the likely starter.
Comments
Post a Comment