For the second time in three meetings this season the Colorado Avalanche dominated the game against San Jose in every area but the scoreboard, but found a way to prevail.
Colorado dominated for at least 50 minutes, if not more, but needed late goals from Valeri Nichushkin and Josh Manson to grab a 3-1 win Sunday night at Ball Arena.
“Just got goalie’d,” Avs center Nathan MacKinnon said. “But we stuck with it. It’s cliché, but we had a good attitude after two (periods). They don’t have a great record, so it can get frustrating when you’re not producing, but we stuck with it had a good third.”
Nichushkin scored during a 6-on-5 situation after Miles Wood drew a penalty. MacKinnon, the extra attacker, sent the puck to Jack Johnson and he connected with Nichushkin for a one-timer with 3:29 remaining in the final period. Wood also helped create the game-winning goal two nights prior in St. Louis with his hard work prior to Devon Toews scoring. Manson added an empty-net tally with 1:07 left.
Halfway through the game, Rantanen actually had more shots on goal (six) than the Sharks (four). San Jose gave up loads of scoring chances, but the Sharks also blocked a lot of shots and the Avalanche struggled to convert the opportunities. This contest was in some ways, eerily similar to when Colorado needed a shootout to fend off San Jose in a 2-1 win in October at SAP Center despite 111 shot attempts, the most by any NHL team in the game this season.
The Avs held San Jose to only 30 shot attempts in this game, which is tied for the second-fewest by a team in the league this year. Save for one bad period in Arizona, the past four games have looked much more like what Colorado wants to be without the puck.
“We’re not generating many goals right now, so we have to play good defense,” MacKinnon said. “We’ve been doing that. Nothing’s perfect, but we’re hanging in there.”
The Avalanche power play has certainly finished 2023 on a run of excellent form. Colorado didn’t score with the extra man in the first five games of December and at one point was languishing in the bottom third of the NHL rankings.
Starting Dec. 11 against Calgary, the Avs scored 14 times on the power play in the final 10 games of the month. They began Dec. 31 with the eighth-best conversion rate in the league at 24.2 percent.
The Avs didn’t need long to get one on the power play against the Sharks. MacKinnon fed Rantanen with a cross-ice pass for a one-timer at 6:58 of the opening period. Nichushkin could have tried to play the puck at the edge of the crease, but let it slide by him to Rantanen for a shot with a much better of going in.
It was Rantanen’s 19th goal of the season. It was also his 50th in the calendar year. He and MacKinnon (53 goals in 2023) are just the third pair of teammates to accomplish the feat since 1996. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl did it for Edmonton in 2021 and 2022.
MacKinnon did best McDavid, and everyone else in the NHL, in points during 2023. His two assists gave him 135 points in 84 games, six more than McDavid.
The Sharks found a goal late in the second period on just their eighth shot of the game when Tomas Hertl scored seven seconds into a power play to even the score.
Colorado’s power play had plenty of chances after the opening goal, but did not convert a 4-on-3 during the second period or a 5-on-3 in the third. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, particularly in the third. The Avs bombarded the Sharks with shot attempts, but a combination of resolve to block them from the defenders and plenty of saves from Kaapo Kahkonen kept the home team at bay.
“That’s the one thing that can get you is the the frustration and then fragmenting, like going off on your own page,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “You have no choice. If you want to win, you have to stick with it. They all know that. … We’ve learned that lesson many times.”
FOOTNOTES: Samuel Girard returned to the lineup for the first time since Nov. 18. He had missed the past five-plus weeks after entering the NHL/NHLPA Players Assistance Program to seek help for his mental health. He said the experience helped find himself again after dealing with severe anxiety and depression that led to alcohol abuse.
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