Avalanche Game 38 Recap: New Year, Same Resolve

To the eight billion people in this big, wide world, it's a new year. To the percentage of us who are hockey fans, it's January. Here's what January means in the NHL: it's no longer "early." January is the last full month before the NHL goes on their All-Star break, and for all of the league's 32 franchises, it's the last chance to get in a good position heading into that break, because chances are, if you're in a good spot by the All-Star break, playoffs are in your future.

The Colorado Avalanche are no exception. The Avs enter January atop the Central Division, and look to stay there. The team has won back-to-back games since the 4-0 collapse, and regarding the first game of 2024, it's a home game against the New York Islanders.

Regarding the goaltender matchup, Alexandar Georgiev was up against a familiar face to us Avs fans: Semyon Varlamov. The Avs were leading in shots during the opening frame, but the Islanders would strike first. Pierre Engvall on a breakaway made it 1-0, but 32 seconds later, a former Islander, Devon Toews, tied it up. A few moments later, Varlamov was out of the game due to an apparent injury, and it would be Ilya Sorokin in net for the rest of the contest. The 1-1 tie would be broken very late during an Islanders power play; Brock Nelson from Noah Dobson and, yes, Sorokin, made it 2-1 for New York, and that was the score after 20 minutes.

Second period started with an early Isles goal; Simon Holmstrom made it 3-1 at 1:09. Avs had a power play after that, it was killed off, but four seconds after the kill, Valeri Nichushkin made it a one goal game. The assists came from Samuel Girard and Jonathan Drouin, and for Girard, it was his first point since returning to the Avs on New Year's Eve. Drouin would later tie it up, with the assists coming from Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon, increasing the latter's home points streak to 20 games. The Avs were pushing for the lead, but all of a sudden, Alexander Romanov shoots it from barely in front of the blue line and it goes in. Replay showed that the shot deflected off Jack Johnson's skate. Isles had the lead back, 4-3, and that score held up for the rest of the period.

Avs spent a good bit of the third period really pressing for the tie, and their quest was hampered just a bit by a Too Many Men infraction. With six seconds left on the Isles PP, Mike Reilly commits interference, and that results in an Avs PP after six seconds of 4-on-4. Avs were in control, and that included a moment where Cale Makar's stick actually collapsed on him in an attempted shot. Despite this, the puck went to MacKinnon, then Nichushkin, and into an open net to tie the game. For the third time in this game, it was tied up, and after some back and forth action, it looked like the Avs would have the lead very late.

Now, this was crazy. So the whistle was blown because a penalty was called on the Isles. Avs were set to go on the PP; however, it looked like Nichushkin's shot may have went in. It was reviewed, and it was ruled that the officials were supposed to blow the whistle earlier than they did. So no goal for the Avs, meaning that with 20 seconds left in regulation, Colorado was going on the power play. In that little regulation time, it looked like the Avs would win it at that point, but the Isles took the puck with about five seconds left, and the game went to overtime. The Avs had 100 seconds of PP time left, but only 32 of them would be needed. Rantanen got the puck to Makar, who passed it to MacKinnon, who shot a snipe right into the net. Good bye, good night, game over!

The Avalanche won, 5-4, in overtime over the Islanders; a win where the Avs never had an in-game lead. This was game #38 for the Avs, but this was our first actual overtime win of the season--the Avs won a shootout earlier this season. Cale Makar, who averaged 1.30 points per game during the 2023 calendar year (which led all defensemen), had three points--all helpers. Valeri Nichushkin scored twice, and Nathan MacKinnon had three points, giving him 61 this season. A second straight 100+ point season is definitely in the cards for MacKinnon, and according to many, so is the Hart Trophy.

The Avalanche will be off to Dallas in a divisional battle with the Stars on Thursday. After that, it's a three game home stand against the Florida Panthers (Saturday), the Boston Bruins (Monday), and the Vegas Golden Knights (next Wednesday on TNT).

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