Surging Avalanche Win Fourth Straight, Avoid Canucks Season Sweep

The Colorado Avalanche really took that loss to the Chicago Blackhawks to heart.

On Friday night, they played smart, consistent hockey from the start of the game to the final whistle, beating the Vancouver Canucks 4-1. Since the loss to Chicago, the Avalanche have outscored teams 21-5 in four straight victories.

The win not only kept the Avalanche from being swept in the season series by the Canucks, but it moved them into a playoff spot. They now hold the final Wild Card position in the West with 51 points.

Andrew Cogliano, Valeri Nichushkin, Mikko Rantanen, and Brad Hunt scored the goals for the Avalanche. Nathan MacKinnon added another two assists to his season total. Alexandar Georgiev stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced.

Elias Pettersson was the lone goal scorer for the Canucks.

The prior three games, the Avalanche came out flying. The first period against the Canucks was a little more even.

But the road team still came out ahead.

The Canucks thought they had scored first, when J.T. Miller deflected a Tyler Myers shot past Georgiev. Miller’s stick, however, was about a foot higher than allowed, and it was immediately disallowed.

The Avalanche got on the board 11:32 into the period off some hard work from the third line. Alex Newhook, who did a lot of the work in the neutral zone, got a loose puck along the boards. He found a wide open Cogliano in the slot, who ripped it over Delia’s glove.

The period would end with the Avalanche up by one, but MacKinnon drew a late penalty while the Avalanche were on the powerplay, so they started period two with a two man advantage.

And they would capitalize.

34 seconds into the two man advantage, J.T. Compher found Nichushkin all alone in front. Nichushkin’s shot deflected off a Canucks defender and into the net to extend the lead to two.

Just 10 minutes later, they found themselves with another two man advantage.

A MacKinnon shot sailed wide of the net, but Rantanen was waiting on the other side, and calmly put it off Delia and in to make it a three goal lead.

Pettersson added a goal for the Canucks less than two minutes later, after he was left all alone in front, but the Avalanche got it back before the period was over.

After taking a big hit in the corner, Rantanen got back up and fed Hunt at the blueline, and the veteran defender blasted it past Delia.

After a crazy second period, the score was 4-1 Avalanche.

That’s how the game ended, as no goals were scored in the third period, giving the Avalanche their fourth straight win.

It’s a quick turnaround for the Avalanche, as they head to Seattle tomorrow night to play the Kraken. The game starts at 8 PM MST.