Perhaps Sunday marked the Avs getting their mojo back after a roller-coaster January underscored by a 7-6-2 record and the blockbuster trade of Mikko Rantanen to Carolina.
The Avs weathered a grinding opening period to pull away for a 2-0 victory over the Flyers at Ball Arena. Samuel Girard’s goal put the Avs ahead, Nathan MacKinnon’s power-play netter gave them cushion and Mackenzie Blackwood posted a second straight shutout as Colorado won consecutive games for the first time in a month.
As Colorado sits in fourth place in the Central Division and atop the wild card standings, coach Jared Bednar hopes that this weekend’s two-game homestand is a momentum builder for the club. Colorado routed St. Louis 5-0 on Friday, thus outscoring its pair of opponents 7-0 over the set of games.
“We’s been bouncing around for 16 games, and there’s always games you feel like we should’ve gotten a better result than we did, and there’s games where we feel like we didn’t get enough in order to win them,” Bednar said.
“I want us to be stringing together performances like we just did over the last two, or better, and see where it takes us. I’m confident that we understand where we’re at, and the importance of each game. Now it’s time to go out and repeat it again and again and again (on the upcoming road trip) before we take our break.”
Philadelphia controlled the momentum early, tallying the game’s first six shots before Colorado finally started to find its footing. Blackwood called the Avs’ start “a little bit sleepy,” while Bednar labeled it “too safe, too vanilla.”
The Avs had several good looks in the opening period, but Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson turned them away each time and Blackwood also stopped 10 shots as the the teams took a 0-0 score into the intermission.
“There was nothing wrong with it defensively, but we were just out there seeing how it goes,” Bendar said. “In the second period, we got much more dangerous after there was some detail lacking (on offense) in the first period.”
In the second, Colorado started consistently beating the Flyers to loose pucks and doing a much better job of controlling possession than they did in the opening minutes of the game. They continued to press Ersson, but he stood his ground, including denying what looked like a sure goal by Martin Necas.
The recently acquired center was perched in front of the crease on the weak side of the net, but Ersson slid over and stuffed the attempt to keep it scoreless after MacKinnon’s threaded pass found Necas’ stick.
A couple minutes later, Philadelphia had a chance to take the lead with a two-on-one rush but couldn’t covert as Scott Laughton’s errant shot went wide right. Colorado immediately gained possession and pushed the puck up ice.
Casey Mittelstadt skated with the puck down the left side and found Girard streaking down a void in the center of the ice. Girard took the pass, made a slick move to bypass the defender in front of him and then ripped off a slap shot that beat Ersson on the left side of the net to make it 1-0.
“(Taking chances to shoot) is something I need to be better at personally,” said Girard, who had two goals on the season coming into Sunday. “I need to put more pucks on the net, knowing it’s probably going to create some rebounds for us. … Today I was better at trying to find that shooting lane and just put a puck on the net.”
Colorado kept up the pressure following Girard’s goal, while Blackwood continued to stonewall.
With four minutes left in the period, a clean game to that point finally saw its first penalty. A hooking call on the Flyers resulted in a 2-0 lead for the Avs after MacKinnon wristed one home from the left faceoff circle that beat Ersson in the top right shelf. The score was assisted by Cale Makar, while Jonathan Drouin screened Ersson’s vision in front of the net.
In the third, the Avs had multiple chances to extend the lead to three, but it was no matter. The defense played well, limiting Philadelphia’s clean looks and killing a power play, while Blackwood made six more saves to cement the win. That included preserving the shutout as the Flyers pulled the goalie for the final few minutes.
“The mentality the last two games is to play like it’s the playoffs, and we’re going to keep going with how we played in the second and third periods today, and how we played (on Friday),” Girard said.
Colorado now heads on a three-city Canadian road trip this week to Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton before the NHL goes on break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. The Avs’ next home game is Feb. 26 vs. New Jersey.
The Avs might lean heavily on Blackwood during the road trip, as fellow goalie Scott Wedgewood is day-to-day with an upper body injury. Wedgewood, who last played in a 3-1 loss in Boston on Jan. 25, will be traveling with the team this week.
“It’s definitely getting good to have momentum going on the road,” Casey Mittelstadt said, “because we’re going to play some good teams and we’ve got to be ready to go.”
Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.
Originally Published:
