Meatloaf! Avs stay streaking in LA amongst Stars amid Wild bear fight for first

The Colorado Avalanche continued streaking on the quad as they won their ninth consecutive road game, beating the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 on Saturday.

A grey-bearded, bucket hat-wearing Will Ferrell sat on the glass rooting for his Kings. Playing the iconic NASCAR racer Ricky Bobby in the classic movie Talladega Nights, Ferrell said, “You gotta win to get love. I mean, that’s just life.” The Kings would walk away loveless and with a loss.

The Avs had a pretty nice little Saturday planned. But the LA Kings wouldn’t allow them any freedom. Colorado truly didn’t have time to get to Bed Bath and Beyond.

With the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars both winning, the Avs needed to keep pace to stay on top of the Central Division. After all, if you ain’t first, you’re last.

The scoreless first period was completely dominated by the Kings, outshooting the Avs 18-4. Colorado had the period’s only power play, which almost resulted in a shorthanded goal from the Kings. It was as if somebody was messing with the Avs’ drums when they weren’t home.

On the road Alexandar Georgiev, smoother than a Rusack Pinot Noir at the Catalina Wine Mixer, kept on with his spectacular season. Going into the game, he was tied for first in the NHL in shutouts (five), ranked second in wins (37), sixth in save percentage (.918), and seventh in games (58.) In addition, Georgie has set a franchise record with 21 road wins. With a large dose of Spartan spirit, he did his thing on Saturday night.

The lackluster, scoreless first period was followed by a dynamite second that had more action than a Friday night kegger at Lambda Epsilon Omega.

Denis Malgin started things off by deflecting a JT Compher slapper over the net. The puck ricocheted off the glass, jiggled on the top of the net, and then rustled off the back of Kings’ goalie Pheonix Copley. It was luckier than Buddy finding a floating iceberg to New York City.

Alex Newhook, on a breakaway, provided more cowbell snapping in his 14th of the season, making the score 2-0.

But, like Blue passing away during mud wrestling, some things in life are bound to happen. The Kings, who had been dominating all game, tied the game on goals from Adrian Kempe and Viktor Arvidsson.

The Kings had a 3-to-1 shots-on-goal advantage. It was as if Chazz Michael Michaels’ Iron Lotus was barely missing the jugular over and over. Could the Avs get the right score from the Russian judge?

In the third, Brad Hunt fired a one-foot slapper off the hard-fought draw won by Lars Eller. This was only the 15th shot of the night from the Avs. In a game where Cale Makar, Josh Manson, and Bo Byram were all absent, Hunt has been so reliable as the go-to fill-in man all year; he’s been more like Brad Whitaker.

Minutes later, Denis Malgin magically had the puck find him to the right of Copley for an easy one, making the score 4-2.

But just when the Avs thought they had the race won, the Kings appeared large in the rearview mirror like Jean Girard coming down the home stretch.

Kempe tightened the screws, sniping a wicked wrister past Georgiev. The one-goal lead seemed tenuous. Georgiev took a direct shot to his mask with two minutes remaining, and his mask went flying. Avs fans held their breath, hoping he was okay. Thanking the dear Lord Baby Jesus, Georgiev was none the worse for wear.

With the empty net beckoning, Mikko Rantanen doinked the inside post, just missing his 53rd goal of the season. A last-second hit by Andrew Cogliano created a melee between both teams. It showed spirit, but it was dust in the wind as the Avs walked hard with the 4-3 victory.

“Ugly,” said coach Jared Bednar in describing his team’s effort. “But a win’s a win. It looked like we didn’t have a lot of energy. Our goalie was really good when we needed him to be good. Yeah, we’ll take it.”

The Avs remain in first in the Central, tied in points with Dallas and two points ahead of Minnesota. With a game at hand, they retain a slight advantage and control their destiny in the season’s final days—not having to worry about a megabowl.

The Avs will be California dreaming of a West Coast sweep as they finish Sunday against the sadly wounded Ducks. Pavel Francouz will get his first start since Feb. 7.

Shake and Bake, Avs. Shake and Bake!

(Did you catch all the Will Ferrell references in this story? There were 17 with one trick—count for yourself!)

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