After a couple day’s rest, the Colorado Avalanche arrived in San Jose for their second game of the season.
Though they’re carrying three goaltenders on this trip, there weren’t any changes in net. Alexandar Georgiev earned the start and Justus Annunen backed him up on the bench.
Making his season debut tonight was veteran forward Andrew Cogliano. Cogliano went down after a hit into the boards in Game 6 of the Seattle-Colorado playoff series caused two fractures in his C6 vertebra.
He returned to his first taste of game-action after missing preseason games, and his return had a key impact on the fourth line and penalty kill.
Colorado began this game as if they were acutely aware that they were playing a San Jose Sharks team without Logan Couture.
The San Jose Sharks played with respect to the competition.
To be clear, Colorado didn’t have a bad first half. You know how when you take a really long lap, maybe longer than you intended, you wake up a little groggier than before?
The Avs over-passed the puck a bit in the first period and needed a moment to settle into their usual game. You could see them shake off parts of the grogginess on their first powerplay chance, but there was still a bit to go into the next.
The element of Colorado’s game that was unwavering tonight was their shot generation. They were relentless.
They had shot volume on their side, but also an edge to their selection. Even still, Sharks goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood had an excellent night in net. He made 51 of 52 saves.
One of the quiet strengths of tonight’s contest was Colorado’s depth. When the puck just isn’t finding the back of the net – you need workhorses.
The MacKinnon’s, Rantanen’s, and Makar’s were working to provide goal support while the Andrew Cogliano’s, Logan O’Connor’s, Fredrik Olofsson’s, and Josh Manson’s were grinding to maximize Colorado’s chances at possession.
Among them – the hard work from the second line set a great example too. Artturi Lehkonen and Val Nichushkin were aggressive on the forecheck and worked hard to create scoring opportunities. Lehkonen had a beautiful wrister ping off the post early in the third.
Miles Wood’s presence was a total headache to the San Jose Sharks. So much of his game gets played three inches from the boards – it’s a physical sacrifice, but Wood wasn’t dipping out on any assignments and led the team in hits.
He pushed his way to the netfront in an attempt to screen Blackwood and generally create traffic in front of the net. In the third period, his netfront presence allowed him to redirect the puck to Jonathan Drouin at the bottom of the right circle for what could have been a great chance.
A nice shift from Colorado’s fourth line in the first period had a momentum-changing effect. The fourth line controlled possession and tired out the Sharks unit to force them into icing the puck. This led to an o-zone faceoff which allowed the top-line to come on.
Some of this hard work translated to the Avs penalty kill tonight. Special teams were complicated.
The penalty kill limited Sharks chances and was so dominant, in three regulation kills the Avs created two scoring chances-against and only allowed three total shots. Logan O’Connor and Andrew Cogliano were high-points on the kill. Olofsson notably created one of the shorthanded chances as well.
The powerplay on the other hand was a bit messier. They struggled to establish the zone and run set plays. They generated nine shots through two powerplays, but allowed two scoring chances against with the man-advantage.
The Avs had obvious star-power on their side. For much of the game, their shot output was double San Jose’s, but the Sharks worked hard to block doubly as much and received excellent goaltending.
Cale Makar had a chance at the top of the crease late in the third period that seemed like a sure thing, but Blackwood slid to make the save with his blocker.
His moment finally came with 1:26 left in the third period. On the 49th shot on goal, Makar beat Blackwood through traffic to tie it. That would do it for regulation.
In overtime, Nathan MacKinnon went to the box for kneeing, and Colorado’s kill was tested once more. Cogliano and Manson were excellent on the final (and successful) kill, and the momentum built from it allowed MacKinnon to draw a penalty on the shift coming out of the box.
If there were a few more seconds left, Colorado might have been able to do more with it, but this was ultimately decided in a shootout.
Alexandar Georgiev wasn’t tested as much comparatively, but he had a great night too. The only goal against came off an unlikely tip-in off a shot from up high. Georgiev had a solid glove save on Luke Kunin’s breakaway chance – even as Kunin came crashing into his net, Georgiev made the save and stepped aside. He stopped an Alexander Barbanov breakaway in the third period as well.
Georgiev denied everyone in the shootout. His footwork and reads made it look easy.
There was no more appropriate way for this game to be decided. Colorado finished with 52 shots on net and an additional 31 attempts blocked.
In the end, it came down to the individual skater and the individual goalie. Finally, Colorado’s stars could channel their frustration of denial after denial into one productive place and put this game to bed.
Mikko Rantanen skated into the slot with his head up, gaze on Blackwood, never once looking away. He moved the puck on his forehand one final time, waited a split-second, and launched it into the corner bar-down.
Colorado won 2-1 in the shootout. With a win tonight, Alexandar Georgiev also earned his 100th career win.
It was a tremendous test of Colorado’s will. They strung together a complete effort through three periods and suppressed San Jose more and more without letting up on their own creation even when they couldn’t solve Blackwood. Then to top it off, they didn’t let their foot off the gas until Georgiev made his final save in the shootout.
At first, they seemed a touch out of sync, but by the end, they were so much more in tune with one another.
Fortunately for Colorado, they’ll get another couple days rest before they play their final game of the road trip in Seattle on Tuesday. It’s another 8:00 PM MST start, so get your naps in early and be sure not to oversleep.
