Devon Toews snaps road losing streak and Georgiev bounces back against Blues

The Colorado Avalanche lost six straight games on the road before tonight’s game in St. Louis.

They needed to be a stronger road team.

The streaky Blues entered the night on a three game tear, so Colorado couldn’t fall asleep at the wheel again.

Alexandar Georgiev earned the start in net after a divisive showing in Arizona, and he was a big reason the Avs snapped their road losing streak with a 2-1 win tonight.

Their first period wasn’t perfect.

The Avs went to the box twice. On the first kill, Colorado held St. Louis to zero shots on net thanks to several blocks from the PK unit. During the second Blues’ powerplay, they managed to withstand three shots on net and received big saves from Georgiev.

At 13:59, it looked like Josh Manson scored off a terrific feed from Fredrik Olofsson, but a challenge was issued on the play.

Kurtis MacDermid skated inside the blue paint to act as a screen and interfered with Jordan Binnington’s ability to make a save.

St. Louis’ challenge was successful and the goal was not counted.

Special teams in this frame led to disrupted hockey. Having the goal called back was already weird, but this game had more weirdness in store, and I’m not talking about Ryan Miller’s guest appearance on the Altitude broadcast in John-Michael Liles’ wine cave.

Too many men, a penalty shot, Ryan Johansen’s 200th career goal, and a near season-low shots total – the Avs didn’t bring their A game, but it was enough.

Later in the first period, Manson had another chance to get on the scoresheet.

Manson fed Jonathan Drouin along the half-wall, and Drouin angled the puck on net and Johansen was at the crease to bat the rebound in.

It was not only Johansen’s 200th career goal, but his first point in four games and third point in the month of December. Needless to say, he was long overdue.

The Manson and Bowen Byram pairing also had a great night. They were a combined 59.09 Corsi-for percentage at even strength and created two shots on net each with two additional attempts blocked. Manson seemed to be feeling it, leaning into the play with a little finesse after his goal was called back.

Makar and Toews did heavy lifting on the penalty kill, but Manson helped a lot and Byram chipped in too.

It’s a good thing because scoring didn’t come easy for either team.

Kasperi Kapanen went to the box for holding and the Avs went on the powerplay.

Cale Makar rimmed the puck around the boards for Nathan MacKinnon. MacKinnon meant to send the puck to Mikko Rantanen across the high-slot, but turned it over to Robert Thomas instead.

Thomas skated in on the breakaway and went forehand-backhand and bar-down behind Georgiev.

The wind was knocked out of them and they only managed a single shot on net during the powerplay.

Between the first and second period, the Avs created just 11 shots on net.

Both teams had to kill another penalty in the second period – that’s where the Avs took that too many men call.

Their penalty kill was excellent tonight. On four kills, the Avs created two shots on net of their own and only allowed five shots on net.

Going into the third, the Avs upped their shots total, but St. Louis was there to go toe-to-toe.

The Avs’ shot share is tenth in the league, so to get outshot by St. Louis (16th) was already odd enough, but they also achieved their second lowest shots total of the season at 23.

Of three other games the Avs have generated 23 or fewer shots on net, the Avs are now 2-2-0.

At 7:56, Makar received a penalty shot because MacKenzie MacEachern threw his stick at the puck – though he wasn’t able to capitalize.

The Avs had to stay sharp through one last penalty kill in the third period. Given the stakes of a tied game, their continued success there was crucial.

Georgiev was stellar in net, but he needed goal support to seal the deal.

At 17:03, Val Nichushkin worked hard to protect the puck just long enough to get it to Devon Toews at the point, falling into a pile of Blues players to complete the pass.

Toews wound it up and ripped a shot through traffic past Binnington – Miles Wood and Johansen were there to create havoc at the net.

For the final minutes, the Avs endured a final push from the Blues and made sure to keep the puck out of their own net.

MacKinnon’s point streak may have ended at nineteen games tonight, but the implications of the victory meant even more.

This was every bit a bounce back game for Georgiev. St. Louis outchanced Colorado and Georgiev was forced to make nine of ten saves on high-to-medium danger opportunities. He made 28 of 29 saves and finished with a 0.966 save percentage – a personal high for the month of December.

The team grinded it out in front of him too. It obviously wasn’t perfect and eight minutes on the penalty kill isn’t ideal. But without Ross Colton, it was a victory nonetheless that carried real value in the standings.

The forward lines were also shuffled throughout the night.

Bednar started with his usual top line but allowed Nichushkin to swap with Drouin to add balance.

It worked because Nichushkin’s role on the game winning goal came from playing with Wood and Johansen briefly.

Drouin had some good looks with MacKinnon and Rantanen, and Nichushkin’s puck retrieval paid immediate dividends.

Though not a permanent solution, Bednar’s successful in-game adjustments contrasted nicely after the decisions in Arizona’s overtime drew criticism.

It’s nice to see the Avs win this one in a low-event affair. Their response to tough games has been impressive, but the Avs need more consistency and sustainability.

The highs don’t have to come in extremes because those have been coupled with extreme lows lately.

There’s just one more game before 2024, and it’d be nice to send fans off with winning Avalanche hockey in the new year.