In their last game before the NHL Olympic break, the Colorado Avalanche took on the San Jose Sharks at Ball Arena. While they tried to lose but were unsuccessful, the Avalanche secured a 4-2 win before a group of eight players head off for the Winter Olympics in Milan.
Let’s break down all the action from tonight!
Advertisement
First Period
After a lackluster offensive performance in the last game, the Avalanche brought some energy to start the game and outshot San Jose 14-5. Of course, there was more power play futility to witness as the Avalanche couldn’t convert on two early opportunities. While the Avs had some good looks overall in the first period, Yaroslav Askarov stopped every single shot he saw, and kept this game at a 0-0 tie heading into the second period.
Second Period
Just over a minute into the second period, Artturi Lehkonen would get the Avs on the board first and give them a 1-0 lead as he crashed the San Jose net, and managed to find the puck in a scramble and put it past Askarov. There was a video review to make sure there wasn’t anything illegal in the mess at the net front but the goal stood.
Lehkonen would give the Avs a 2-0 lead, as Nathan MacKinnon would find him with a phenomenal cross-ice pass as he came flying into the offensive zone, and he made no mistake and one-timed the puck past Askarov. With 17 shots put on net in the second period alone, the Avalanche were firmly in control after the second period.
Third Period
It should have been an easy win at that point but San Jose would tie the game at 2-2, though, with goals from Timothy Liljegren and Philipp Kurashev, both of which came early in the second period. Liljegren would beat Mackenzie Blackwood with a one-timer, and Kurashev would manage to put a bit of a knuckle-puck past Blackwood to tie the game.
After that the game felt a bit tense for the next 10 minutes but Josh Manson saved the day and scored the go-ahead goal to give the Avs the lead back, as he let a one-timer rip from the point and beat Askarov cleanly to give Colorado a 3-2 lead.
Brock Nelson would add an empty-net goal for the Avalanche after that, giving us the final score of 4-2 and a secured victory.
Advertisement
Takeaways
It was certainly nice to see the Avs end on a high note before heading off for the NHL Olympic break. Over the past few games, it wasn’t really hard to see that they had kind of looked past these games and seemingly were just wanting to get to the Olympic break, which is understandable, but it was still nice to see them depart for the next three weeks riding off of a win. Now, Colorado gets some really valuable time for their injured players to rest up and relax, while a handful of them head off to Milan to represent their respective countries in the Olympics. Hopefully, we get to watch some exciting Olympic hockey, and the rest of the Colorado team now gets some valuable time to rest up before the NHL regular season continues after the break.
Upcoming
With the NHL Olympic break now in full swing, Colorado’s next regular-season game is at home on Wednesday, February 25th against the Utah Mammoth at 7 p.m. MT.
