Avalanche Game 43 Recap: The Comeback Kings

It was a day where the NFL took center stage, as this year's Super Wild Card Weekend was underway. Even so, the NHL had a stacked schedule: all 32 teams were in action. Two of them were the Colorado Avalanche and the Toronto Maple Leafs, and they faced each other. That's a marquee matchup, mainly because it pits two of the NHL's biggest stars against each other: Nathan MacKinnon and Auston Matthews. One's climbing the ladder in the points race, the other is leading the league in goals. Giddy--by God--up!

The goalie matchup was Alexandar Georgiev (more on him later) vs Martin Jones, and yeah, goaltending had been a topic of concern for the Maple Leafs this season. Goal scoring wasn't, though. The shots were pretty close, but out of nowhere, Max Domi's shot from barely in front of the blue line just happened to go in. I had to look at it again; I couldn't believe that it went in, but it did. So just like that, Tie Domi's chip off the old block gave Toronto a 1-0 lead. Just over four minutes later, Morgan Rielly broke away and scored, making it 2-0 for the Leafs. It looked like the Avs would either get one later, or that it would be 2-0 after 20, but Timothy Liljegren made it 3-0. Holy moley. That was the score after 20 minutes, and get this, none of Toronto's goals were assisted.

The first period saw no penalties, which is no surprise. The Avs and Leafs are two of the most disciplined teams in the NHL, despite refs trying to claim otherwise (and failing). The first infraction of the game came 5:17 into the second period, and it was committed by Mark Giordano. 10 seconds into the power play, Jonathan Drouin put the Avs on the board, but get this: that goal was on another delayed penalty. The Avs would have been on a long 5-on-3 had that not happened, but instead, the Avs received another power play. This one was killed off, but the Avs were gaining some momentum after hatching the goose egg. A Toronto PP was killed off, and a few minutes later, Mikko Rantanen scored his 22nd goal of the season to make it a one-goal game. Toronto held the lead after 40 minutes, but it seemed like an Avalanche (pun intended) was brewing.

The Avs were definitely pressing for the tie in the third period. It would not come on the power play, but it would come right after that. Andrew Cogliano evened the score at 7:35, and it did seem like the Avs had all of the momentum. Even so, a lot of time was going by, and I honestly expected overtime. However, Nathan MacKinnon had something to say about that. After receivng the puck from Rantanen, MacKinnon delays the shot a bit, and then fires, and just like that, the Avalanche have the lead. I swear to you, that goal was shades of Joe Sakic's goal in Game 7 of the 2001 Cup Final; you can find it on YouTube. Jones was pulled for the extra attacker, but all that did was allow the Avs to really move in on that empty net. Finally, Ross Colton put it in and iced it.

The Avalanche won, 5-3, after trailing 3-0; part of an amazing last few days for the team. Just before the game started, the rest of the All Stars were announced, and among the players who will be taking part in the festivities in Toronto are Cale Makar and Alexandar Georgiev. Both are well deserved; Makar is proving that he is a strong candidate for the Norris Trophy, while Georgiev is definitely having yet another Vezina-esque season. Speaking of trophy candidates, Nathan MacKinnon added two more points, bringing his total to 69, keeping in pace for not only the Hart, but the Ross as well. This was yet another big comeback win for the Avs; the second time that the Avs fell behind 3-0 and won.

You know, it seems like the Avs have been getting disrespected lately, yet here we are, getting a comeback victory on the road against a super heavyweight. We held Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares--Toronto's immensely talented and (rightfully) heavily paid core--to no points. What more do you want us to do so we can get, as LeBron James would say, some damn respect?!

I said it's been a great few days for us. The All-Star announcements came right before the game. However, here's the centerpiece:

See this photo? That's from the evening of June 26, 2022, after the Avalanche won Game Six over the Tampa Bay Lightning to capture the Stanley Cup. There's our captain, Gabriel Landeskog, holding up the Cup. A year and a half has passed, and that's the most recent thing he's done for the Avs. He missed all of last season and over half of this year due to a terrible injury, yet just days prior, we received the news: he's skating. Landeskog is still not close to returning, but the fact that he's skating again is a very good sign. It's the early stages of a return to play for our captain. The story is that the target for Landeskog's return is the playoffs. That's three months away. It does look like our captain will return to the ship by that exact time.

Toronto was Game One of the Avalanche's current Eastern swing, and Game Two will take place in Montréal on Monday.

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