In their final game before the NHL’s Olympic break, the Colorado Avalanche took on the San Jose Sharks at Ball Arena. While they tried to lose but failed, the Avalanche took a 4-2 victory before a group of eight players traveled to the Winter Olympics in Milan.
Let’s break down all the action tonight!
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First period
After a lackluster offensive performance last game, the Avalanche brought some energy to start the game and outshot San Jose 14-5. Of course, there was more futility on the power play, as the Avalanche couldn’t convert on two early chances. While the Avs looked generally good in the first period, Yaroslav Askarov stopped every shot he saw and kept this game tied 0-0 heading into the second period.
Second period
A little over a minute into the second period, Artturi Lehkonen put the Avs on the board first and gave them a 1-0 lead as he crashed into the San Jose net, and managed to find the puck in a scramble and put it past Askarov. There was a video review to make sure there was nothing illegal about the mess in front of the net, but the goal stood.
Lehkonen would give the Avs a 2-0 lead, as Nathan MacKinnon would find him with a phenomenal pass up the ice as he arrived in the offensive zone, and he made no mistake and one-timed the puck past Askarov. With 17 shots on goal in the second period alone, the Avalanche were firmly in control after the second period.
Third period
It should have been an easy win at that point, but San Jose would tie the game at 2-2, thanks to goals from Timothy Liljegren and Philipp Kurashev, both of which came early in the second period. Liljegren would beat Mackenzie Blackwood with a one-timer, and Kurashev would manage to put a small puck past Blackwood to tie the game.
After that, the game felt a little tense for the next 10 minutes, but Josh Manson saved the day and scored the go-ahead goal to give the Avs the lead again, as he let a one-timer snatch the point and beat Askarov cleanly to give Colorado a 3-2 lead.
Brock Nelson then added an empty-net goal for the Avalanche, giving us the final score 4-2 and an assured victory.
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Takeaways
It was certainly nice to see the Avs finish on a high note before heading off to the NHL’s Olympic break. Over the last few games, it wasn’t really hard to see that they had sort of looked past those games and seemingly just wanted to get to the Olympic break, which is understandable, but it was still nice to see them go for the next three weeks after a win. Now, Colorado is getting some very valuable time for its injured players to rest and relax while a handful of them travel to Milan to represent their respective countries in the Olympics. Hopefully we can watch some exciting Olympic hockey and the rest of the Colorado team will now have some valuable time to rest before the NHL regular season continues after the break.
Next
With the NHL’s Olympic break in full swing, Colorado’s next regular season game is at home on Wednesday, February 25 against the Utah Mammoth at 7 p.m. PST.
