Another win, what else?
A new Central Division foe came to town and the Colorado Avalanche took care of business just as they were expected to. The Winnipeg Jets were a thorn in their side all night but Colorado earned the 3-2 victory.
It was a smorgasbord of scoring with goals from Brent Burns, Martin Nečas and Parker Kelly. Eight different Avs earned a point with Josh Manson gathering two assists on the evening. Scott Wedgewood made 20 saves and earned his 15th win of the season. His counterpart Connor Hellebuyck made 24 saved and did all he could to give his team a chance to win but it wasn’t enough.
The Game
It was a fairly low event start for both teams as they stayed off the board for the opening portion of the game. Brent Burns would get the scoring started, though, as he deflected a shot through traffic to put Colorado up by one. After killing a penalty Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Nečas combined for another score before the end of the period with the latter as the beneficiary of a pass which left him wide open at the net front. Colorado had a nice 2-0 lead after the first period of play.
Most of the action in the second frame didn’t impact the scoreboard. Josh Manson got into a punch-less fight with Tanner Pearson after hit on Winnipeg’s Cole Perfetti. Logan Stanley hit Martin Nečas a tad late and sent him to the room. Colorado received three power plays in the period and Winnipeg was the team who found the back of the net with 38 seconds left on the board on a shorthanded goal from Morgan Barron. He chipped the puck past an unsuspecting Cale Makar and feathered a backhand around Scott Wedgewood for the score to end the period 2-1 still in favor of Colorado.
Nečas was back in action for the third period and the Avalanche quickly scored after their power play expired as Parker Kelly redirected a Manson shot past Connor Hellebuyck. Winnipeg got one back via their own power play when Mark Scheifele deposited a rebound at the side of the cage. The Avalanche fourth line then had a goal waived off due to a high stick at the halfway mark of the period to keep it a one-score game. A couple tense moments followed and Winnipeg vacated their net briefly but the Avalanche prevailed in the 3-2 victory.
Takeaways
The power play is still the glaring flaw in the Avalanche’s dominance. It’s not causing losses now but it’s still something that needs to get solved before games matter again. Putting out a gassed Makar just to end the second period with the top unit on the ice led to the shorty against didn’t help matters as he was useless when the puck got past him.
On that note, burning out the top players now will not pay any dividends in the future. Despite the first period goal, the top line didn’t have their best night. That’s ok when you can get contributions from the likes of Burns, Kelly and Manson. In a game where the two aforementioned defensemen were feeling it maybe Makar shouldn’t have played over 26 minutes in a routine game.
Upcoming
A big showdown with another familiar foe as the Colorado Avalanche take a one-game trip to visit the new-look red-hot Minnesota Wild on Sunday, December 21st at 4 p.m.
Category: General Sports
