The Avs end their California road trip in style, getting a gutty overtime win
Apr 10, 2023, 6:12 AM
Whatever expectations the Avalanche may have had about their California road trip, certainly their 5-4 overtime win against the Ducks Sunday night, sealing an undefeated roadie, exceeded all reasonable hope.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Goes the trolley and the Avs offense in the first period.
Three separate times the puck rang the pipe. An exhausted Avs team, who won a courageous game against the Los Angeles Kings the night before, weren’t catching any breaks.
Jared Bednar admired how his team was able to keep a proper perspective despite the frustrating moments.
“More importantly is to not get frustrated and just stick with it down the stretch,” the Avalanche’s head coach said. “If we don’t let if frustrate us, it will come to us and it did.”
J.T. Compher was able to bury a loose puck to give the Avs a 1-0 lead. However, the inability to cash in on two different five on three opportunities, including a four-minute power play as Derek Grant’s high stick drew blood on Sam Girard, grew more frustrating than a lactose intolerant Easter egg hunt.
The only rested player for Colorado was starting in net. Pavel Francouz had gone 60 days without stopping pucks. His injury remains mysterious, but considering how important he was during last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs run, nobody was asking any questions. All concerned were thrilled to see him return.
Only three games remain in the Avs regular season. All are against tough teams (Edmonton, Winnipeg and Nashville). So despite how tired the Avalanche may have been, they simply couldn’t drop a game to the third-worst team in the league who were winless in their last 10 games.
Mikko Rantanen got the message, as he flipped a backhander past Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal with six minutes left in the second. This was the 53rd Moose dropping of the year, putting him fifth on the organization’s all-time regular season scoring list and only one behind the Avalanche record held by Joe Sakic. (Michel Goulet set the organization record at 57 when the Avs were the Nordiques).
The insurance goal was needed more than State Farm evaluating a moron backing through their garage door. Frank Vatrano would counter for the Ducks two minutes after the Mikko goal. Adam Henrique would quickly follow with a breakaway goal that beat Francouz. On back-to-back nights, the Avs would butcher another two-goal lead.
In the third, Vatrano would nab his second of the night. Shortly thereafter, disaster. On a charge to the net, an errant shot by Brett Leason banged off Girard’s shin pad past Frankie to make it 4-2.
Four unanswered goals to a lousy team were not acceptable.
The Avs showed more determination than a father of three from Iowa standing in line at Space Mountain. He was not gonna let down his kids.
Catching a break halfway through the period was clutch. Trevor Zegras hooked Girard. With all the blown power play opportunities, the Avs desperately needed to collect to give themselves a chance. Mikko wasted no time. Perched to the right of Dostal, Rantanen blasted home a perfect pass from MacKinnon to make the score 4-3.
The records keep accumulating as Mikko hit 100 points for the year, while tying Sakic’s Avalanche goal scoring record of 54.
Moments later, Max Jones tripped Devon Toews, creating another power play chance. The action was furious in front of Dostal. MacKinnon slightly whiffed on the doorstep which would’ve tied the game.
With six second left on the man advantage, the Ducks again got called for tripping giving the Avs another power play. Colorado would not let their season record 7th power play chance go to waste.
Again, it wouldn’t take long. This time, the roles were reversed, as Mikko fed a hungry MacKinnon. MacK’s blast smoked past Dostal to tie the game at four.
“I thought we had good intent to our game tonight,” said coach Jared Bednar. “Guys played hard. Their goalie played really good. A good indication that you are working hard is drawing penalties and we did that tonight.”
Into overtime, the Avs would absolutely dominate play. The Ducks wouldn’t sniff the puck during the extra session. Colorado had repeated chances that were snuffed out. The Avs doubled the Ducks in terms of shots on goal 46-23. There was simply no way this game wasn’t going to slide to the better team.
Sure enough, in the final minute of the overtime, the Ducks got whistled for another penalty, as Vatrano interfered with Evan Rodrigues.
In the four on three, the Avs would finish the deal, as MacKinnon would blast home his 39th goal of the year. It was another example of the best players playing their best in the biggest moments.
“We were really happy about the win,” said Rantanen on the broadcast. Mikko would ultimately finish the night with 102 regular season points. “It wasn’t our best, but we found a way. We are happy for the two points.”
Mikko knew that patience would pay off.
“(We knew to) just stay with it. There was a lot of time left on the clock. We had a lot of good looks. We just stuck with it. That was the plan.”
With three games remaining for all three teams contending in the Central, the Avs now have a two-point lead. They have extended their away winning streak to a club record of 10 in a row. With only one road game remaining, this impressive mark may extend into next year.
The Avs, rightfully so, may be looking beyond the Central title. With a game in hand to both the Oilers and Golden Knights, it’s not crazy to think about winning the top spot in the Western Conference.
“It’s a good spot to be with only three games left,” said Bednar. “But there’s still work to be done. We’ve seen the standings flip flop all year long. We are just trying to take care of business in the regular season. We are just trying to focus on getting home ice.”
There will be a critical chance to make up ground at Ball Arena on Tuesday night, as Connor McDavid, with his stunning 151 points (64 goals, 87 assists), comes to town with Edmonton.
A playoff preview is at hand and a packed home crowd will be salivating for the action.
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