Avalanche Room: Manson’s Save, MacKinnon Not Thinking Hart

This game was very close to spiraling out of control for the Colorado Avalanche. With the Stars already up 3-0, they had a powerplay and a chance to really take control of the game.

A long stretch by Alexandar Georgiev and some quick thinking by Josh Manson didn’t let that happen.

Just like he did two years ago against the St. Louis Blues, Josh Manson saved the day for the Avalanche, stopping a puck from going along the goal line with under 10 seconds remaining in the first. The Avalanche were able to get into the intermission and recover, and the rest was history. Cale Makar spoke about the play after the game.

Nathan MacKinnon was again dangerous, scoring the tying goal in the third period, and was asked about his Hart Trophy nomination after the game. As you would expect, he’s not thinking about that right now.

Watch MacKinnon’s availability, as well as the availability of Casey Mittelstadt and Alexandar Georgiev. Also, read some of the thoughts from Makar, Miles Wood, and Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar.

Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon

MacKinnon on being nominated for the Hart Trophy

“I’m not even thinking about that. I’m so invested in this playoff run. Obviously, I appreciate everyone voting for me. But yeah, I’m definitely just trying to win (a Stanley Cup) here with the boys.”

Casey Mittelstadt

Alexandar Georgiev

Miles Wood on the overtime winner:

“(Andrew Cogliano) made a great play. He chipped it through the neutral zone and skated on it. I’m happy the puck crossed the goal line. The best part was celebrating with the teammates. That’s what it’s all about.”

Makar on Josh Manson’s save at the end of the first:

“You never want to give up opportunities where you need guys to make big saves like that, and (Alexander Georgiev) came up huge for us quite a few times as well. Manson is playing really well and had a huge defensive play.”

Makar on the ability of the Avalanche to come back and win games:

“It’s not an ideal spot when we are playing down from three goals, but it was a closer game at that point than the score indicated. A couple of goals went off of us, and one went off my stick. At the end of the day, it’s playoff hockey, and there is just no quit. If you are going to look at this game I feel like, as a group, we just stuck with it and grinded it out and found a way to win it.”

Bednar on the game overall:

“It took just a little while to get to our game tonight. (The Stars) capitalized on their chances in the first period and we capitalized on some opportunities in the second and third. (The Stars) came out again in overtime and put it on us but (Georgiev) made some good saves throughout the course of the game. We limited some scoring chances through the middle portion of the game pretty well, but the chances we gave up were good ones. I didn’t like the chances we gave up. There wasn’t a bunch of them. I thought it was pretty tight checking for both teams for most of the game. But [the Stars] capitalized on some early and we got the better of them taking care of our chances in the middle portion of the game. It’s part of it, the only score that matters is the one at the end of the night. You have to play the full 60 and sometimes it doesn’t work.”

“There were some things we needed to do better, so we addressed that first. We were disorganized in the d-zone arrival on the first goal. We were under and around all over the place, the point is open, and multiple guys are going. (The Stars) executed and shot it through the screen, so that’s on us. Good faceoff play and it hits our guy. I think (Georgiev) is making that save, but then it hit a stick and changed direction to go over us, and there’s no real chance. They make a play, they have to balance it, make a draw. It was well executed on (the Stars’) part. We got some bounces too. We had some good opportunities. I felt like the game started to come for us a little late in the first, and then in the second period we started doing more of what we’d like to see and simplifying our game a little bit. But (the Stars) were more competitive in the first period and our lack of discipline didn’t help. But we rebounded nicely in the second period and started to get ready to go.”