After opening the season with a win and a loss in back-to-back contests, the Colorado Avalanche enjoyed three days of rest before traveling to the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul to take on the Minnesota Wild. The Wild, who finished second to the Avalanche in the Western Conference last season with a franchise-best 113 points, entered the game with an 0-2 record. While it’s far too early in the season for a must-win game, Minnesota played with an intensity that had Colorado back on its heels at times.
While the Wild came from behind twice to tie the game, Colorado proved too much for Minnesota, winning the game 6-3. The contest, a meeting of division rivals, was chippy at times, with the Wild outshooting the Avalanche 39-38. Here are three takeaways from the game.
Flukey Scoring Favors the Avalanche
Early in the first period, Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson lobbed a soft wrist shot from the blue line into a sea of players in front of the net; the puck found forward Ben Meyers‘ shoulder-high stick, deflecting past Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson.
Late in the opening frame, Nathan MacKinnon, fresh off signing a lucrative contract extension, skated the puck around the net and tried to shovel a pass to defender Samuel Girard. The puck clipped the stick of former Avalanche forward Tyson Jost, but still found its way to Girard. Girard then pushed a weak backhand toward the net, where it ricocheted off a skate and under the right pad of Gustavsson for Colorado’s second goal.
Midway through the second period, MacKinnon lifted the puck at the blue line for a soft dump into the zone. The biscuit took a strange bounce on goal, seeming to surprise and handcuff Gustavsson, rebounding onto the stick of a charging Mikko Rantanen, who buried it for an easy score. The goal, his first of the season, gave Colorado a 3-2 lead.
At the other end of the ice, with the Wild trailing by a goal, Jost and Frederick Gaudreau had a short-handed, two-on-one breakaway. Colorado netminder Alexandar Georgiev came out of his crease and went down, leaving the net wide open. Gaudreau was already past the goal line by the time he tried to stuff the puck, sending it instead careening through the crease, inches in front of the vacated net.
All in all, a strange but happy night for Avalanche at both ends of the ice.
Avalanche Offensive Juggernaut
Flukey or not, the Avalanche, who improve to 2-1 with the victory, have scored 14 goals in their first three games, which is tied for fourth best in the league (with the Pittsburgh Penguins). Six different players scored against the Wild, and nine different Avalanche skaters now have at least one goal on the young season.
Related: 2021-22 Avalanche Are the Best Team in Franchise History
The elite offensive production is a continuation of the level of play the Avalanche exhibited last year when they averaged 3.76 goals per game, which was fourth-best in the league.
MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin each had a goal and two assists on the night; MacKinnon now has seven points in the first three games, and Nichushkin, like Rantanen, has six. Nichushkin’s goal, which came with only 21 seconds left in the contest, was a short-handed, empty netter. It was his fourth goal of the season, which leads the team.
Early Season Avalanche Penalty Killing Woes
The only real blemish on the evening for Colorado was its penalty kill, as they gave up two goals on five power play chances for the Wild. They have now surrendered six power-play goals (PPG) on 13 chances, killing only 46 percent of penalties so far this year. The penalty kill did come up big late, to prevent the Wild from mounting one last comeback. While offensive production can provide cover for a lot of deficiencies, the Avalanche will need to get their penalty kill right to have success this season.
At the same, with MacKinnon’s goal in the game coming with the man advantage, the Avalanche have now scored six PPG in three games, which is tied with the Wild for the league lead.
Game Notes & Up Next
Georgiev surrendered three goals on 39 shots, turning in a solid performance in his second game in an Avalanche sweater. Four players – Girard, Josh Manson, Meyers, and Rantanen – scored their first goals of the season. For the Wild, Krill Kaprizov had two goals in the contest.
The Avalanche are back in action Wednesday night when they host the Winnipeg Jets at Ball Arena in Denver.
