Avalanche Game 67 Recap: Lonely at the Top

We had the Vancouver Canucks right where we wanted them!

The Colorado Avalanche were coming off a big blowout win over the Calgary Flames to start this four-game road trip, but we could be right back to work, as that was the first game of a back-to-back set. The Avs headed west to face the Vancouver Canucks for the final time this regular season. The Canucks are the #1 team in the entire Western Conference, but the Avs are batting 1.000 against the Nucks this season, having won both meetings. This meeting is the only one in Vancouver, though this could be a playoff preview.

Alexandar Georgiev was in net for the Avs against Casey DeSmith, who Nucks fans will see a lot of after learning that their main goalie, Thatcher Demko, would be sidelined due to injury. However, J.T. Miller would score just 24 seconds in, and he would get an assist just over two minutes later, as his pass to Ilya Mikheyev resulted in a goal for the former. So in less than three minutes, the Avs were down 2-0, and Vancouver dominated that opening frame. The Nucks received the game's first power play with 1:52 left, but it would be killed off barely into the second period. This did not deter the Canucks, as Nikita Zadorov made it 3-0, with the assists coming from Conor Garland and, yes, Casey DeSmith. So not only was DeSmith, who I remember as an unreliable backup with the Pittsburgh Penguins, shutting us out with apparent ease, he had an assist as well.

All that meant was the Avalanche had the Canucks right where we wanted them.

Vancouver had another power play, which turned into a four-on-four that led to an abbreviated PP for the Avs. All of that was killed off, and as time went down, it looked like the Canucks would enter the intermission up 3-0...until Mikko Rantanen put one in with 1.8 seconds left. The assists came from Devon Toews and Casey Mittelstadt. So instead of 3-0, it was 3-1 after 40 mintues.

It began.

1 3/4 minutes into the third period, Elias Pettersson goes to the box. Avs get a full power play, which becomes a 5-on-3 after Ian Cole is called for hooking. 15 seconds into the 5-on-3, Nathan MacKinnon makes it a one-goal game; Rantanen and Cale Makar with the helpers. The 5-on-4 ended up killed off, but the Avs had momentum down one. The team continued pressing and getting a number of shots; a scramble saw Ross Colton shoot one in, but it was waived off. Replay clearly showed that the puck went way in, and just like that, we have a tie game. Nucks had a power play and had a lot of chances, but that got killed off. Time went down quickly; overtime was inevitable, but it would come with a twist: a delay of game penalty on Vancouver with 8.7 seconds left in regulation. So once those ticks went down, overtime began with 1:52 left on the Avs power play. We would only need 30 seconds of extra time to convert, and it was a MacKinnon shot off Valeri Nichushkin's visor that won it for the Avs.

What a comeback! This is the third time we've come back from a 3-0 deficit this season, and all three such comebacks came on the road! Basically, we made up that deficit in 20:31.8 of game time. That's frighteningly quick. So the Avs are now winners of five in a row, and we have swept the #1 team in the entire Western Conference. Oh, and the Avs received help from the Nashville Predators, who defeated the Winnipeg Jets in regulation. When our game went to overtime, the Avs moved up to second place, and the win moved the team to the top of the Central Division via tiebreaker over the Dallas Stars. I don't know how long we'll stay up top, but I know this, I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

So the Avs are two-for-two on this current four-game road trip, and next up is a game I've been waiting all season for: our first crack at the Edmonton Oilers. That marquee matchup comes on Saturday in Edmonton.

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