Avalanche Game 66 Recap: Welcome to the Club

The Colorado Avalanche's first game after a very fruitful trade deadline was an overtime victory over the Minnesota Wild, the team's third straight win. The club's groove appears to be back, with the winning tear starting in the second half of February. The Avs are back on the road for the next four games, with the first three games taking place in Western Canada. Avs fans are hoping that this road trip fares better than our last one, and the first leg of this four game swing takes place in Hart Country: Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

This meeting, the only one in Calgary this year, was a battle of the backups: Justus Annunen vs Daniel Vladar. An early power play allowed the Avs to rack up shots big time, and one of them went in. Mikko Rantanen received a pass from Valeri Nichushkin, and placed the puck in a wide open net, continuing the Moose's point streak. Speaking of points, the secondary assist came from Nathan MacKinnon, marking his 112th point of the season--a new career high for points in a single season. The Avs' 1-0 lead didn't last long, as Daniil Miromanov tied it up at 3:24. 11 seconds after assisting on the goal, Nazem Kadri (we still love him) committed a high sticking penalty, resulting in another Avs power play. That was killed off, and later on, Walker Duehr made it 2-1 for the Flames. This was followed by Vladar doing his best impression of 2004 Miikka Kiprusoff, stopping everything in his tracks. Calgary led 2-1 after 20 minutes, and Vladar had 18 saves in 20 minutes in net.

And then, the floodgates busted open.

I was watching the second period really hoping that the Avs could tie this up. The pressing was there, but nothing so far, and then, Josh Manson struck at 4:52. The assists came from Sean Walker and Andrew Cogliano, so Walker became the first of our four new acquirees to pick up his first point with the Avalanche. It didn't end there. 58 seconds later, Nathan MacKinnon scored his 41st goal of the season to give the Avs the lead back, and the assists came from Nichushkin and Rantanen. It did look like the Flames could tie it up, but just then, Nichushkin scored to make it 4-2, and the assists came from Rantanen and Devon Toews. So Nichushkin and Rantanen had three points each, and things cooled down for, well, a few minutes.

Until Casey, Mighty Casey, broke away with the puck.

At 14:10, Casey Mittelstadt picked up his first goal with the Avalanche, and the assists came from Toews and Brandon Duhaime. So Duhaime and Mittelstadt picked up their first points with the Avs, a big day for the new acquirees. Just when it looked like the Avs were done, Rantanen struck again at 19:14, scoring his second goal of the game and picking up his fourth point of the game. 6-2 was the score after 40 minutes, and a mostly uneventful third period allowed the score to hold up.

So already, this road trip is on pace to be better than our last one. This was a perfect game. Mikko Rantanen with four points, Valeri Nichushkin with three points, Nathan MacKinnon with 113 points, a new career high for points in a season. Justus Annunen simply just had to show up--a five-goal 2nd period is definitely a goalie's best friend. And of course, the new players got on the board: Brandon Duhaime and Sean Walker with an assist each, while Casey Mittelstadt picked up a goal. Yakov Trenin's not on the board yet, but he will be; give him time.

So the Avalanche have won four in a row, and we got some help from the Florida Panthers, as they defeated the Dallas Stars in comeback fashion. Two points separate the Central Division's top 3, and for the Avs, it's back to work on the following day. The Avs will be off to Vancouver to face the top-seeded Canucks, and with the Winnipeg Jets set to face a Nashville Predators team who hasn't lost in regulation in their last twelve games, Wednesday night could end with the Avalanche leading the Central Division.

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