The Colorado Avalanche wrapped up a perfect back-to-back with a 3–2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Brent Burns kicked things off for Colorado, Brock Nelson converted on the power play and Valeri Nichushkin added some breathing room with a slick insurance goal early in the second. Between the pipes, Mackenzie Blackwood was rock solid yet again, stopping 24 shots and coming up big when it mattered.
On the Philly side, captain Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny supplied
the offense—Konecny especially, firing nine shots on goal all by himself. Samuel Ersson, typically the Flyers’ backup, put in a strong performance too with 25 saves to keep his team in it.
First Period
The Flyers struck just 2:08 into the game when Noah Juulsen fired a slap shot from the point that Couturier redirected past Blackwood, giving Philly an early 1–0 lead.
A little over six minutes later, Burns answered with his fourth goal of the season, firing a wrist shot through traffic—helped by Nichushkin’s screen in front—leaving Ersson no chance. Martin Nečas stayed cool at the left circle and threaded a pinpoint pass to Burns, whose ability to get shots through at age 40 is just insane.
Later, Juulsen was called for tripping Parker Kelly, and Colorado made the most of the power play. Nelson and MacKinnon each took swings at a loose puck, but Nelson got the final tap to give the Avalanche a 2–1 lead. Nečas almost added another, but his one-timer clanged off the post.
Second Period
It didn’t take long for the action to get going as 1:47 in, Nichushkin made it 3–1. He grabbed a cross-ice pass from Devon Toews that deflected off Victor Olofsson’s skate, then ripped a wrister past Ersson.
Konecny made it interesting, cutting the lead to 3–2 with a slick pump-fake to the far post before sliding the puck five-hole on Blackwood.
Burns nearly restored the two-goal cushion midway through the period, sending Olofsson on a breakaway, but Ersson came up with a huge blocker save. Later, Burns hammered another shot from the point, only to see it hit the post. On the same play, Trevor Zegras was called for slashing Nichushkin, giving the Avs another power play—they couldn’t convert. Late in the period, Nečas took a slashing penalty of his own.
Colorado carried the 3–2 lead into intermission, while the Flyers headed to the third with 1:53 left on the man advantage.
Third Period
After killing the penalty, MacKinnon was called for hooking Zegras on a breakaway 4:54 into the period. That led to a penalty shot, a tense moment considering Zegras has a 68% success rate in shootouts (17-for-25). But no dice as Blackwood came up huge again, reading the move perfectly and making the save to preserve the lead.
The rest of the game turned into a high-pressure battle, but Colorado held strong. Philly pulled Ersson twice late, trying to force overtime, but Blackwood stayed locked in, and the Avs skated away with the 3-2 win.
Next Game
The Avalanche (21-2-6) wrap up their four-game road trip Tuesday against the Nashville Predators (10-14-4) at Bridgestone Arena. Coverage kicks off at 7:30 p.m. local time.
