Avalanche complete multi-goal comeback in Nashville to push winning streak to four

As far as game recaps from me go, this one should be pretty tidy. I’m going to try to keep it under 1,000 words for once and let everyone get into their holiday weekends (myself included!) as we are about to go multiple days without Avalanche hockey for the first time since November 27-28.

Starting with the game in Winnipeg where the Avs got bodied to begin that fiasco of a four-game road trip way back on November 29, Colorado has played every other day. Tonight’s 3-2 overtime win over the Nashville Predators completed 13 games in 25 days, the busiest stretch of the entire season for the Avalanche.

With that level of fatigue in mind, I was bracing myself for Colorado to experience a letdown of sorts in Nashville tonight, especially after the 4-1 homestand they just polished off and two straight games that went beyond regulation. This is a tired team playing solid hockey but struggling to score.

Colorado is comfortably in the playoff picture, whereas Nashville’s desperation is starting to kick in as they sit about five points outside of the last Wild Card spot and two teams between them and that final spot. Points are important already for them.

So it wasn’t all that surprising to see the home team in Nashville jump out to a hot start and play with a ton of energy. They were buzzing around Colorado’s zone for most of the first period and a power play opportunity was cashed in on when Ryan Johansen put back a rebound that Alexandar Georgiev appeared to lose in the traffic in front of him.

That 1-0 lead held into the first intermission where Nashville led 15-8 in shots on goal and a 17-8 advantage in scoring chances.

An Evan Rodrigues penalty in the second period put the Preds on the power play and provided a pivotal moment in the game. Though they didn’t score on the man advantage, Nashville cashed in just as the penalty expired when (of course) Matt Duchene scored to make it 2-0.

In that moment, with the score now at a two-goal advantage against a team that has only scored two real goals in its last two games (I’m not counting the shootout-winning goal in a 1-0 game as a real goal, sorry), it felt like Nashville might be on the verge of running away with the game. They had the lead, the legs, and were piling up a nice shot advantage.

Then, for seemingly no reason at all, the script flipped. Colorado turned the game on its ear and began dominating shifts. You can see exactly where they began taking over right here.

That goal provided the jumping-off point for Colorado to take over the rest of the game. Just when it looked like relentless pressure (see the shots in rapid succession right before Colorado’s first goal?) might not lead to anything other than more lamentation of missed opportunities, Logan O’Connor’s forecheck pressure led to an open look for Mikko Rantanen.

Rantanen sniped a puck over the glove of Juuse Saros to end the shutout and validate all of Colorado’s hard work to get back into the game. It was 2-1 and seemed like anything was possible.

Saros would remain brilliant through the end of the second period despite the Avs building a 21-9 shot advantage in the middle frame.

The third period provided much of the same as Colorado continued its offensive assault but Saros held strong, even as the Avalanche shots on goal pushed beyond 40.

While Colorado had mounted five comebacks this season, none had been more than one goal. When J.T. Compher tipped a point shot from Artturi Lehkonen into the net to tie the game with 4:55 remaining in regulation, the Avs set themselves up for their first of the season.

The immediate shift after tying the game, however, it appeared disastrous luck might strike. A puck took a funky bounce off Erik Johnson’s helmet and kickstarted a three-on-one rush for Nashville. Mikael Granlund got the opportunity for a one-timer to give the Preds their lead right back, but it smoked the post and bounced away.

From bad fortune to good, the Avs survived the scare and the game wound itself into overtime.

Once there, the game was largely played in 4v4 because of a Colorado power play that carried over from the end of the third period. The Avs failed to score and there wasn’t a stoppage again until just over a minute left in the extra session.

It didn’t take long for the game to end from there as a failed Matt Duchene rush went the other direction for a Colorado two-on-one scoring chance. Evan Rodrigues sold everyone on earth that he was shooting before making a dish across the ice to Sam Girard, who put it home for the game-winning goal.

Just like that, Colorado was back on a four-game winning streak and headed into the NHL’s Christmas break tied on points with the Minnesota Wild but ahead because of games in hand for third place in the Central Division.

While being tied at Christmas wasn’t really in the blueprint at the start of the season, Colorado’s rampant injury issues moved the goalpost of expectations pretty quickly and this feels like a respectable accomplishment for the group.

Even more encouraging is they are only six points behind the division-leading Dallas Stars but hold three games in hand over them, so doing some quick math…the Avs are in a fine position.

TAKEAWAYS

• The Avs lost Val Nichushkin during the game to an upper-body injury. He appeared to be laboring a great deal during the game and eventually just decided it was enough. There is no timetable for return at the moment but, obviously, another injury would not be great for the big fella. He’s very important for the Avalanche.
• Only good feelings for Girard, who had five shots on goal and seems to be pressing a ton on the offensive side of the puck. He’s been making the kinds of mistakes with the puck you’d never expect from him but not making up for it with the excellent playmaking we’ve seen throughout his career. Getting involved in the rush and then scoring the game-winner will hopefully get Girard’s game trending back in the right direction.
• Georgiev is something else. The Avs could have folded up shop in this one and the Preds had some brilliant scoring chances to put Colorado away but Georgiev just didn’t let it happen. He had a shaky start to the month of December but he has given up just four goals in his last four starts. That’s how you respond to a little adversity. His excellence remains a major key to Colorado staying afloat right now.
• The other major key to Colorado finding ways to win is Mikko Rantanen. He now has right about 25% of Colorado’s goals on the season after he notched his 23rd goal of the season tonight. The reality here is that his 42 points is great, but he’s 24 points behind Connor McDavid for the league lead. That gap isn’t going to allow him to get seriously involved in the Hart Trophy conversation unless Rantanen starts scoring even more or McDavid cools off. Nathan MacKinnon and Gabe Landeskog are both set to return in the next month or so and their return will give the Avs the kind of star power that voters love to use an excuse to ignore the kind of excellence we’ve seen from Rantanen as he’s hard-carried this Avalanche offense the last several weeks. He is backpacking them up the standings but the combo of the stars around him returning and this heroic run coming in December will likely mean he gets pushed out, especially in light of ascending stars Jason Robertson and Tage Thompson being ahead of him in the scoring race. Doesn’t mean he hasn’t meant everything to Colorado, but I’m just trying to be honest with everyone about the realities of that award race right now.