Jared Bednar has often preached focusing on the process, taking a long-term view and expecting the results will follow.
Colorado’s effort against one of the NHL’s best teams, despite missing two key defensemen two days after a rough loss, was a key takeaway Monday night at Ball Arena. Valeri Nichushkin made sure the Avalanche also collected two points with the lone tally in the shootout in a 4-3 win.
“Start to finish, that’s probably one of our most complete games of the year,” Bednar said. “Just the way we played, competed, took care of the puck — it was a really good hockey game.”
Just getting to the shootout was an achievement. The Avs spent the final 1:58 of overtime shorthanded, with Cale Makar and Alexandar Georgiev the stars of a critical penalty kill. Makar played 3:02 of the overtime, including all but six seconds of the 3-on-4, and Georgiev made three saves.
“My fault, but any time you have to kill a 4-on-3 in overtime, your goalie has to be your best penalty killer,” said Logan O’Connor, who was in the box for holding. “Whenever they did get a shot opportunity, he was there to swallow it up or kick it out.”
The Avs were coming off a wild 8-4 loss to Florida two days prior, one that prompted Bednar to use the phrase “we need a save” after his goalies combined to allowed seven goals on just 28 shots. This was a solid bounce-back for Georgiev, particularly given the adverse conditions after regulation.
Sam Malinski was an emergency recall Monday morning, and he had a big impact when Josh Manson was unable to play. Malinski gave the Avalanche a 3-2 lead with 2:04 remaining in the second period with his second career NHL goal.
Ryan Johansen won the offensive zone faceoff back to Malinski at the right point. He drifted to the center of the zone and used Bruins forward Pavel Zacha as a screen for a well-placed wrist shot. The Avs were without Manson and Bo Byram (lower body), but put together a strong defensive effort, particularly at even strength.
Brad Marchand’s second goal of the night tied the game up for a third time at the end of a strong Boston shift. Charlie Coyle found Marchand cutting to the net near the left post with a pass from near the right half-wall, and the Bruins’ captain was able to deflect it into the net 5:46 into the final period.
O’Connor scored one of the most on-brand goals of his career to give Colorado its first lead early in the second period. O’Connor harassed a pair of Bruins players all the way back into their own zone and then pounced on the puck when Zacha and Kevin Shattenkirk collided with each other.
“There was a lot of skill and speed on both sides of things,” O’Connor said. “It was a back-and-forth game … lots of plays being made. It’s always fun to get into those fast-paced games for sure.”
It was one of a few uncharacteristically sloppy plays by the Bruins, and a big one for an Avs’ depth player to take advantage of. One of Boston’s depth guys answered midway through the second.
Former University of Denver coach Jim Montgomery inserted John Beecher into the lineup, saying Monday morning the Bruins needed some help in the faceoff circle. Beecher helped them on the scoresheet by beating Kurtis MacDermid to a rebound near the left post to level the score at 2-2.
Marchand put the Bruins in front midway through the first period. The Avs’ penalty killers looked great for nearly a full minute, but Marchand corralled the puck in the left circle, circled to survey his options and snapped a shot into the top-right corner.
Colorado answered with a power-play goal of its own late in the opening period. Nichushkin has been handling most of the net-front duties for the top power-play unit, but Mikko Rantanen showed his blend of size and skill also works well in that spot.
Nate MacKinnon fed Rantanen at the top of the crease, and he chipped it over Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman after choking down on his stick and dropping one knee to the ice. It was Rantanen’s 21st goal of the season, and MacKinnon extended his home point streak to 22 games.
Both of these clubs finished the night tied for the second-most points in the NHL. It felt like a high-stakes game, particularly for a January weeknight. And the Avs were certainly happy to secure an extra point.
“I thought it was a great game for our guys,” Bednar said. “Both teams, really — just an awesome hockey game.”
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