Avalanche Game 28 Recap: True Grit

A funny thing happened entering the Colorado Avalanche's latest game: the Winnipeg Jets moved into first place in the Central Division. The Jets' win in Anaheim on Sunday moved them past Colorado and Dallas in the standings, but thankfully, the Avs had the chance to remedy that, as the homestand continued against the Calgary Flames. This is the second meeting of the season between the Avs and Flames, with Round 1 going to Colorado.

It was Alexandar Georgiev vs Dan Vladar, and 15 seconds in, the Avs were on the power play already. It didn't look like it would be the case. It did look like Ross Colton would be in the box for five minutes for boarding, but they only callled Noah Hanifin for roughing. The retaliation is always caught. The power play was knocked off, but even so, the Avs were leading in shots for a good bit. However, it would be Calgary who struck first, and it was our old buddy Nazem Kadri. Some Avs fans were actually happy when Kadri scored; that's how much we still love that guy and are grateful to him for his contribution to the 2022 Stanley Cup. Avs pressed for the tie, and we would get it, and look who tied it up. Tomas Tatar finally scored his first goal of the season, and his first with the Avs, resulting in a 1-1 tie after 20 minutes.

The second period saw the Avs on the PP very early, and it would be Cale Makar to give the Avs a 2-1 lead on the man advantage. However, Calgary would strike back...big time. First off, Andrew Mangiapane tied it over five minutes into the period, and despite a game effort from Colorado to get the lead back, it would be Calgary who took the lead again, as Blake Coleman made it 3-2. Less than two minutes later, Ben Meyers, who was in for Kurtis MacDermid, ties it up, but that only flamed up the Flames (not a pun). Connor Zary scored at 16:19, and at close to the end of the period, Yegor Sharangovich made it 5-3. Oh boy. So the Avs were down two after two, and Gorgeous George's night was over.

Ivan Prosvetov was in net for the Avs in the third period, and the first half of that frame saw him put to work quite a bit, which included a Flames power play. It was killed off, but even so, the two goal deficit remained and time was running out. However, at 11:20, Ross Colton cut the deficit to one, and honestly, that really made me happy. Remember: the Avs are undefeated when Colton scores. Even with the Avs down one, I felt that Colton scoring would boost the Avs. Sure enough, I was right. Barely over two minutes later, Mikko Rantanen ties it up, his first goal in a good bit and then, with 4:30 left, Nathan MacKinnon breaks away and puts it in past Vladar! It's 6-5 for the Avalanche, just like that! Flames had to pull Vladar for the extra attacker, Avs had several shots at the empty net, but wouldn't connect. It didn't matter, the score held up, and the Avs had one hell of a comeback win!

We really needed this win, because we were facing having a losing homestand if we lost this one. Not only were the Avs down by two goals, we were down by two goals with less than half a period left in regulation, yet the Avs got it together and came back and won. This is the first time in a while that all three of the Avs' top players (MacKinnon, Rantanen, and Makar) scored in the same game. The Colton win streak continues, and most of all, Tomas Tatar finally scored his first one with the Avs. I was so happy when we got Tatar; I had seen him with the Devils and Canadiens, and he's amazing as hell. It's why I was dumbfounded when Tatar hadn't put one in yet. I didn't judge him harshly, mainly because Tatar was on a team full of talented players, so my thought was, "Tatar really doesn't have to do much." It took him 28 games, which is just over one-third of the season, but Tatar finally put one in. Here's hoping this is the start of a hot streak for Tatar.

In addition, kudos to Prosvetov for successfully holding the fort down in his relief appearance, stopping all 11 Calgary shots in the third period. Even so, that shouldn't change the fact that Georgiev is definitely a Vezina candidate this year. The Avs salvaged the homestand, 2-2 in the stretch, and it concludes on Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres on TNT.

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