Colorado Avalanche Win the 1st Game of 2015
Happy New Year from the Colorado Avalanche as they take a big two points in their first game of 2015.
The Colorado Avalanche hosted the Edmonton Oilers for the first of two Mile High meetings and the first game of the new year. The Oilers come in struggling worse than the Avalanche, with just two wins in 23 games and only 24 points in 38 games.
True the Oilers probably aren’t really playing for a playoff spot. However, they have a young team with a lot of talent — since they’ve had a lot of high draft picks recently — so you can’t just write them off.
Even Stevens
First period was a pretty even stanza for the two teams. Both had nine hits. Colorado also recorded 10 shots to Edmonton’s nine.
Defenseman Erik Johnson had two of those shots, both coming near the end of the period. Even pundits are agreeing that Johnson is having a career season — it’s hard not to when he’s already matched his best-ever goals total.
The highlight of a tightly-played first period was a fight between former teammates Cody McLeod and Matt Hendricks. Like the rest of the period, the fight was pretty even. However, Colorado tough guy Cody got a few jabs to Matt’s temple right at the end.
Speedy Second
Colorado started to take some of the momentum in the second period. Play got fast, and that favors the Avalanche. The action flew back and forth with takeaways in the neutral zone.
Colorado forward Daniel Briere drew first blood. Remember when we advised Matt Duchene to keep it simple, sugar? Guess who knows better — Matt Duchene. He executed his trademark spin-o-rama behind the net to shoot the puck right onto Briere’s stick. Danny B simple one-timed it right past Edmonton goalie Ben Scrivens.
Nathan MacKinnon, who’s back to playing on wing, got some pep in his step. He started showing some of the speed for which he’s known. He got a couple of really good looks at Scrivens, but no finish.
Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog showed his continued willingness to participate in scrum when he delivered a hit on Edmonton skater Matt Fraser. Fraser took exception and whirled on Landeskog. Referees were quick to break up the scrum, but both players got two for roughing.
Colorado ended the second period on a penalty kill with MacKinnon in the penalty box for hooking. In addition to leading 1-0, they also led in shots 22-14.
Refs Take Center Stage
Referees should never take center stage at a hockey game. They forget this periodically, and tonight was one such, unfortunately for the Avalanche.
After the weak call on MacKinnon — Nate was the one who fell — the referees awarded the Oilers another power play when Luke Gazdic skated into Daniel Briere stick. No joke, Briere was standing still, reaching for the puck, Gazdic skates into him and falls, and Briere gets called.
Less than two minutes later the referees were at it again. With Briere sitting in the box, they called Alex Tanguay for almost the exact same play — causing an Oiler to trip all over himself. That was just one penalty too many in Edmonton’s favor, and they tied it up at one. Power play goal by Benoit Pouliot.
The Avalanche got a few more looks, but regulation ended tied at 1 apiece.
Extra Hockey
The game got fast again in the overtime. Play was back and forth with speed with players such as Duchene, MacKinnon and, especially, Johnson making use of their skating skills.
Johnson in particular was all over the ice. He was playing like a man possessed by the spirit. Despite the fact of getting three shots on net, the overtime ended with the score still tied. Time for the shootout.
Avalanche fans tend to eschew the shootout as a “skills competition.” I’m not sure what’s with the derision considering the Avs have a lot of skill at both ends of the ice. Indeed, going into the game the Avalanche were 3-2 on shootout wins — and the two losses came at the beginning of the season when they couldn’t buy a win.
In any case, Nathan MacKinnon was the first shooter. He’d been 5 for 5 on shootout goals, but Scrivens managed to stop him this time. Goalie Semyon Varlamov stopped Derek Roy, a new acquisition for the Oilers.
Duchene was up next. He’s been up and down in the shootout this season, and tonight was an up night — score. Varlamov stoned Edmonton skater Jordan Eberle. That meant the next Avalanche shooter could win the game.
That man was Alex Tanguay, and if you’ve been following his season you know he’s been having a good one. Tonight was no different. He scored a fancy top-shelf move with those soft hands of his to get the Avalanche their second point for the game.
The game shouldn’t have gone on as long as it did. However, the Avalanche came away with two points, two very valuable points at this time in the season. We’ll take it.
The Avalanche host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, January 4.