Avalanche News
Sam Malinski Scores His First of the Season
The Colorado Avalanche scored five goals in a dominating second period of the 6-4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday night — the polar opposite of the team’s first 20 minutes. Cale Makar started it off with a breakaway shorthanded goal, followed by Sam Malinski’s first of the season. One from each of the top line — Nathann MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen and Mikko Rantanen — rounded out the middle frame.
“I thought he (Malinski) was great. That was a heck of a play, too. He pushes it up the ice and follows it up. And in Winnipeg, he was really good too,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “He was a guy that helped turn the momentum around. I thought, for us in Winnipeg, staying up on his coverage in the neutral zone and knocking pucks down and transitioning us — it was a strength of his game there, and I thought he did a nice job of it again tonight, and that goal is a prime example.”
Mikko Rantanen has 3-point Night
Rantanen added another goal in an empty net with less than a minute left and ended the night with three points. He struggled a few games to get on the scoresheet but has turned it around since Artturi Lehkonen returned to the lineup.
Good & Bad: Avalanche’s Top Stars Take Over in 6-4 Victory Over Carolina
“I think there’s a stretch you don’t score goals, but you get chances. Sometimes it doesn’t go in and sometimes it goes in, even the bounces go in. I try to defend hard if I don’t score,” Rantanen said. “I try to defend and just play the right way and try to help the team that way. Hopefully, sometimes I can score and help our guys score and if not, it’s okay, as long as we win and I can do my job defensively.”
What Turned it Around for Win Over Hurricanes
The Avs have not been great coming out of the gate but they dialed it in against a tough, highly-ranked team to get the win. So what shifted after the first to get the wheels turning?
“I think we just saw kind of what we were, what we could expose overall,” Makar said with the Player of the Game hat on. “I mean, it’s kind of in our MO lately, little bit of a slow start. We got to focus on that and fix it. But at the same time, we were able to regroup in the second period and learn from some of the stuff that we did in the first.”
Alexandar Georgiev Comes Up with Big Saves
Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves in his eighth start of the season and his performance — especially in the first period — was crucial to helping his team earn the win.
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“You try to play your game and let the guys do their job. I feel just not getting carried away and taking one game at a time,” Georgiev said. “If I play my solid game, we have really good chance to win every night.”
This was undoubtedly one of the best outings the Avalanche have had so far this season and they need to keep the momentum going against tough teams for the next three games at Ball Arena.
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