As the schedule got better, the Colorado Avalanche had to continue to look after their businesses and extend their winning streak to continue to rise to the central league rating. Enter the Anaheim Ducks, which are in the process of rebuilding but have started hot and are currently on a playoff seat which wouldn’t be an easy opponent. After a bizarre and challenging start to the game, the Avalanche found their groove and drove to a sixth win in a row to a 5-2 victory.
The game
Ducks were the first to step onto the board in a power play at 4:58 by Sonny Milano after Darcy Kuemper lost his skate blade again and couldn’t get up from the ice. He needs to be helped off the ice and into the locker room to fix the situation, while Johansson, like two nights ago against Ottawa, went online with relief. Ultimately, Kümper would return to the game clock after about five minutes and take his position in the goal area again.
That distraction, coupled with some early high threats for Anaheim, could have meant a game where the Avalanche struggled to focus and regain momentum, but luckily the Ducks were left with no further tally. It went to the end of the period at 7:06 pm, but Cale Makar’s hot hand stopped and he fired a puck through traffic from the blue line which hit Paydirt and leveled the game in one piece. This score also extended Nazem Kadris Point Streak to ten games, which is currently the longest in the NHL. After a rather incoherent first third, the Avalanche were lucky enough to end the game in a draw after 20 minutes.
What was a strange situation got worse when Kuemper lost an edge on the ice in the second third and his skate broke again. It was at this point that Johansson came on the net and stayed for the entire game. Kümper finally appeared on the bench and seemed fine, but it was clear that the network was now Johansson’s for the night.
It didn’t take long for the avalanche to pick up early in the second frame. Alex Newhook is Power Play Gold and the sooner the Avalanche realize they will reap the benefits. That’s exactly what they did that night at 2:49 pm, when Newhook fired a Devon Toews shot into the high slot right after a power play came off to take the lead.
Moving on to the subject of the crazy Nicolas Aube-Kubel found his second goal in an Avalanche sweater when he whistled for a shot and this hit a duck in the back of his skates, but the puck bounced straight back on him and Aube-Kubel went up glove on John Gibson to put the Avalanche in the lead with two goals at 10:25. It was a time of total dominance when the Avalanche beat Anaheim 17-5 and scored the only two goals to bring a confident 3-1 lead into the second break.
The Avalanche started the third period 5v3 in search of a sure goal, and when they found it on Kadri’s stick before the minute was up, the game was as good as over. Val Nichushkin scored his fourth of the season in the last five minutes, giving the Avalanche their fifth goal on the board. Milano also added his second of the evening on power play to break Johansson’s shutout, but he has to be content with winning the 5-2 avalanche final instead.
Takeaways
There are plenty of good performances to highlight in this current winning streak, especially Kadri, who deserves credit for channeling the chip on his shoulder into pucks at the back of the net and just having the general urgency of hard work on both ends of the pitch. However, another key factor in the Avalanche’s success is that with Nichushkin they are undefeated in the lineup, and that is no accident. Since returning from a wrist injury on opening night, Nichushkin has been his typical dependable defensive and forecheck monster self, but also really adds up on the offensive with some wonderful passes and shots as he now has one point per game in his seven competitions this season.
Kurtis MacDermid made his first appearance this season as a forward for Kiefer Sherwood. Although he still played by far the least amount of time on the team’s ice at just over six minutes, the long-awaited fight took place just three minutes into the game when a staged brawl took place with frequent dance partner Nicolas Deslauriers. As the Avalanche nears a healthy lineup, there are some real squad decisions to be made as MacDermid doesn’t play a huge role despite public protests suspecting otherwise. The enforced importance given to a perceived physicality influence most of the time sitting on the bench or in the press room is bizarre to say the least.
With this win, Jared Bednar becomes the most successful head coach in the history of the Colorado Avalanche with 194 wins to Bob Hartley. With the Avalanche continuing to consistently return to their game and climb the leaderboard, Bednar has been a helping hand in both the current hit streak and the overall picture of the turnaround in the franchise.
Upcoming
The first half of a weekend that travels in a row on Friday November 26th at 5:30 p.m. MT in the home of the Dallas Stars.
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