Avalanche Game 2 Recap: Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

The Colorado Avalanche's season opener saw the team flex on offense. Five goals, two on the power play, a dominant win over the Los Angeles Kings. Next up was an outing against the San Jose Sharks, and as a longtime Avs fan, I do have memories of the classic Avalanche/Sharks battles. However, those were against the strong Sharks teams who made the playoffs almost every year. These, sadly, are not those Sharks. The Sharks have suffered since reaching the Western Conference Final in 2019, and it seems like their rebuilding period will never end. Nevertheless, they were prepared for their second game of the season, as were the Avs.

Colorado was shooting their shots left and right; an early power play helped with that. Shots were 8-1 early in the opening period, but San Jose's second shot went in. Thomas Bordeleau put one in, and for the first time this season, the Avalanche were behind. Last season, the Avalanche were 9-17-2 in games where the opponent scores first. How would the team fare in this go-around? Well, the Avs continued to shoot, but all that did was turn Mackenzie Blackwood into a brick wall. Colorado outshot San Jose, 16-9, in the first period, but the Sharks led 1-0.

Last season, the Avs were 7-12-2 when trailing after 20, but the second period saw the Avs continue to fire everything at Blackwood. The power plays came as well, including a five-on-three late in the second. Sadly, not only was that killed off, it was killed of by a Colorado penalty. Not good. SJ's power play was killed off, but Blackwood continued to stand strong during the second frame. Colorado outshot San Jose, 15-7, in the second, but after 40, it was still 1-0 Sharks. The third period was more of the same, with several very close calls for the Avalanche, but Blackwood kept them out as the period progressed. With barely over two minutes left, Alexandar Georgiev was pulled for the extra attacker, and after putting out six skaters and shooting 50 shots, something finally broke through. Cale Makar's shot hit the back of the net, and the game was tied at the 18:34 mark of the third period.

Overtime was needed, and it was quite eventful. A kneeing penalty on Nathan MacKinnon gave San Jose a power play and a chance to get a win for Blackwood, but the Avalanche penalty kill continued not to break. With 31.7 seconds left, the Avs had a power play themselves, but that was killed off quickly. The game went to a shootout, and Mikko Rantanen's goal was all that the team needed.

This was a very hard earned win for the Avs. Despite Blackwood's performance, we never gave up. We kept at it and kept at it until something finally cracked through. Cale Makar's goal came at the right time and at the right moment, as it allowed Colorado to get at least a point in the standings, and the Avalanche PK did the rest, with Mikko Rantanen's shootout goal completing the mission. The man of the evening, however, was the one in net for the Avs: Alexandar Georgiev. The win was his 100th in his career, and he is coming off an amazing year where he finished tied for the league lead in wins. I still say Georgiev should have won the Vezina last year. Remember: last year was his first season as a starter, after playing behind Vezina winner Igor Shesterkin in New York.

It was not easy, but the Avalanche improved to 2-0 this season with the shootout win. Next up for the Avs is a trip to Seattle to face off against the Kraken, and boy, do we owe some payback to them. As we know, the Seattle Kraken ousted the then-defending champion Avalanche in the opening round of last year's playoffs, doing so in seven games.

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