Avalanche Game 19 Recap: Top of the Mountain

The Colorado Avalanche have been on a bit of a winning tear as of late, with the latest show being a 5-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. After enjoying Thanksgiving and all that came with it, the Avs got back to work on Black Friday, this time against the Minnesota Wild. Oh boy. We Avs fans are mighty sick of the Minnesota Wild. Here's a fun fact. This rivalry is the longest running division rivalry in the overall history of the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche. Even the old provincial rivalry between the Nordiques and Canadiens in the Adams Division wasn't as long as this one; they were division foes from 1981-1995. The Avs and the Wild have been division rivals since 2000--over 20 years. Whether it's the old Northwest Division, the current Central Division, or even that shortened season in the localized West Division, these two teams just can't get away from each other.

The goalie matchup was Alexandar Georgiev and Filip Gustavsson in this first meeting of the season in Minnesota. Quiet start to the opening frame; half of it went by without penalties. Finally, the first power play went to the Wild, that got killed off. Avs got their first PP of the game, that got killed off. It really did look like it would be 0-0 after 20 minutes, but Ross Colton changed that. His seventh goal of the season was assisted by Bowen Byran and Riley Tufte, and the Avs ended up leading 1-0 after 20. Side note: the Avs are undefeated this season when Ross Colton scores.

Speaking of Colton, he started off Period 2 with high sticking double minor. Yikes! The penalty was committed at 1:03, but around a minute and a half later, it became a 4-on-4. Another Wild penalty resulted in the double minor killed off and the Avs getting a power play, but that was knocked off. At 7:31, Minnesota commits another penalty, and this time, Colorado cashes in on the power play. Valeri Nichushkin, who is giving us Avs fans 2022 Cup Final vibes, made it 2-0 with his sixth goal in as many games. However, the Wild would get on the board just 44 seconds later, and of course, it's Kirill Kaprizov. Now, it's been said that the man known as Kirill the Thrill has been struggling this season, but he's still Kaprizov. He knows where the net is. So the Wild ended up pressing and received a power play, which turned into a 5-on-3 a minute later. Now, the first penalty was killed off. The second? Not so much. Joel Eriksson Ek ties it up on the one-man advantage, and the 2-2 score holds up after 40.

Pretty strong effort from both teams, it almost looked like overtime. The feeling was that the first goal would win it, and at almost five minutes, it would be the Avs who would get that goal. Of all people, it was Kurtis MacDermid putting in his first of the season to make it 3-2 for the Avalanche. Something told me that this game was going to overtime. No matter how good, bad, or in between Minnesota was, they and the Avs went down to the wire a lot. Avs had two power plays that were both killed, then at 15;42, Bowen Byram committed another penalty. Not only was that Wild PP on the verge of being killed, they commit a penalty of their own. So after four seconds of 4-on-4, the Avs had a near full PP with just over two minutes left. So the Wild could not pull Gustavsson, as the Avs stayed on Minnesota's side for the most part, but at the end, they did take control of the puck, and that allowed Gustavsson to be pulled right before the penalty ended. The extra attacker was on, but the Wild could not tie it up. Avs went on to win 3-2.

Prior to the game, it was announced that Samuel Girard would enter the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, citing that he had suffered severe anxiety and depression that led to alcohol abuse. I am one of many Avs fans hoping for the best for Sammy G. He's amazing as hell. As we all remember, Girard was traded to the Avalanche on November 5, 2017 as part of the famous Matt Duchene trade that included the Avs, the Nashville Predators, and the Ottawa Senators. It was the Preds who gave us Girard, and he's been a marvel for the team. I still remember that Girard scored the first goal of that do-or-die final game against the St. Louis Blues, which the Avs won to reach the playoffs. He had one goal during the 2022 Cup run, with Girard missing over half of that run before hoisting the Cup after the Game Six win. What Girard is going through is much larger than the great game of hockey, and I hope that he gets better very soon.

Speaking of the game of hockey, the Avalanche have won five out of six, and were just over 30 seconds shy of a six game winning streak. Even better, thanks to the Dallas Stars' loss to the Calgary Flames, the Avs are back in first place in the Central Division; tied in points with the Stars and the Winnipeg Jets, tied in games played with those two teams, but Regulation Wins puts us ahead. Next up for the Avalanche is the second half of the back-to-back against the Calgary Flames on Saturday, this time, it's back at Ball Arena.

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