The Colorado Avalanche, on tired legs after an insane 9-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers, go into the second game of their back-to-back even more tired and took a gritty win over the Vancouver Canucks.
An early start for Nathan MacKinnon gives the Avs the chance to play from ahead, scoring two goals in the first period for his team. A dominant push from Vancouver in the second half of the first period allows Linus Karlsson to make a quick move around Devon Toews near the net to put his team on the board.
The second period from Colorado was… not good. Kiefer Sherwood gives the Canucks a chance and uses a stray puck from off the boards to tie things up.
Artturi Lehkonen opens up the first minute of the third with a sick deflection from Brent Burns. Then Jared Blend-nar went ham, where the Avs rolled out a first line with Gavin Brindley on it. Brindley, though he had no points to show for it, worked his way into that spot without a doubt. He drew a penalty later in the period that allowed Artturi Lehkonen to get his second of the night – on the power play! Drew O’Connor and Brock Boesser are the saviors for the Canucks, though, scoring two for Vancouver to draw this one into overtime.
That’ll draw this one into overtime. MacKinnon, Lehkonen, and Toews start things out, but with the drive Brindley has had, Jared Bednar gives him a shot at 3-on-3, and it pays off as he scores the game-winner for the team’s first overtime win of the season.
Did I mention Gavin Brindley was good tonight?
During regulation, he had nothing to show for it on the scoresheet. With one shot attempt to his name, Gavin Brindley, to the eyes of anyone that did not physically watch this game, was the classic fourth liner you say “please don’t lose this game for us” about.
To the eye test, though, he looked incredible. The guy outworked all but one Avs player tonight. His forecheck was incredible, his defensive game was spot-on, an overall astonishing performance from the fourth-liner in his second game back from concussion protocol.
This is a guy that I could easily say should’ve had a goal in regulation tonight. He played like he wanted it, pushing on everything and everyone in his path to try and make it happen, but with the way the rest of the team was just kind of surviving through this one, I’m not shocked it didn’t happen for him.
But his performance earned him a shot at some ice time in overtime, and his drive pays off with a whack at a rebound he created to give the team their fourth point for the back-to-back sweep.
The power play worked tonight
Something we complain about a lot here at DNVR is the Avs’ power play. Rightfully so, as it has been genuinely bad through most of this 16-game stretch. It looked dangerous to start the season, but something fell off, and they’ve struggled to find a consistent groove with something that looked anything remotely like what they started with.
I’m not quick to call it fixed, as some of their chances on the man-advantage tonight looked genuinely awful, but there is something to be said about them finding success twice.
Nathan MacKinnon got it going first in the opening frame. The Avs struggled to find a clean pass, but they managed one through the slot, where MacKinnon finds it to get his second of the night.
The other star on the power play? Artturi Lehkonen, thanks (again) to a holding penalty drawn by Brindley.
