In their first game back from the Olympic break, the Colorado Avalanche took care of business against a familiar central division opponent in the Utah Mammoth, winning by a final score of 4-2.
Nathan MacKinnon sat out this contest due to “maintenance”, while every other Avalanche Olympian participated. We’ll see about MacKinnon’s availability moving forward.
First Period
While it looked like the Avs had gotten on the board first with a goal by Brock Nelson, the Mammoth challenged for goaltender interference, and
the goal was ultimately called back. While Utah would have a couple of looks themselves, both teams would head to the locker room tied on the scoreboard at 0-0 and 8-8 in shots after the first.
Second Period
After a slow first period, the scoring picked up considerably in the second 20 minutes of play. Parker Kelly would get the Avs on the board first, for real this time, on a beautiful coast-to-coast rush from behind the Colorado net to make it 1-0.
Victor Olofsson would make it 2-0 in Colorado’s favor off a phenomenal feed from Sam Malinski, who found Olofsson all alone in front of the Utah net.
Dylan Guenther would get Utah on the board next with a power-play goal, and make it a 2-1 game as he was able to rocket the puck past Scott Wedgewood on the short side.
Nelson would get on the board himself for real after the Utah goal and make the score 3-1 in Colorado’s favor, as he was able to find a soft spot in the middle of the ice and beat Utah netminder Karel Vejmelka.
Utah didn’t quite give up yet as Guenther would score his second of the night after that on a broken play in front of the Avalanche net, as no Avs player was able to pick him up as he came into the zone, making it 3-2.
With MacKinnon absent, Martin Necas took over his spot on the left circle on the power play and showed off the shot he impressed with at the Olympics. His goal gave breathing room for the Avs as he beat Vejmelka cleanly with a one-timer to make the score 4-2, which would be the final score.
Third Period
As previously mentioned, 4-2 would be the final score in this game, and while Utah would have some chances to get back into this game in this period, they were unable to convert.
Takeaways
Coming out of the Olympic break, it was certainly nice to see Colorado start the remainder of the regular season off on the right foot. Despite the early overturned goal in the first period, the Avs didn’t let that deflate them; they kept at it, and were ultimately rewarded as the game went on. Obviously, you were missing Nathan MacKinnon tonight, which didn’t end up being much of an issue at all, as depth guys stepped up to contribute on the scoresheet tonight to help secure the win. Now, the Avs will have to do that again tomorrow night against the Wild on the second half of a back-to-back, which is much easier said than done.
Upcoming
Colorado finishes up their back-to-back in a big game against the Minnesota Wild. Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. MT on Thursday, February 26th.
