Good & Bad: Mittelstadt Steps Up After Nichushkin’s Injury, Avalanche Defeat Winnipeg

DENVER — Casey Mittelstadt’s first game as the fourth-line center didn’t last long. But it wasn’t quit because of his own doing.

Valeri Nichushkin left the game late in the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return. Head coach Jared Bednar had to shift his top six, putting Mittelstadt between Jonathan Drouin and Ross Colton on the second line.

The result? A late go-ahead goal from Mittelstadt, redirecting a point shot from Josh Manson to lift the Avalanche to a 5-2 victory over the league-leading Winnipeg Jets.

It’s Mittelstadt’s first goal in 19 games.

“It was a heck of a play by [Manson],” Mittelstadt said. “I’m just happy that it was at a good moment for the team and a big win for us.”

The Avs also had goals from Artturi Lehkonen and Devon Toews before capping off the night with their third straight two-empty-net goal performance, this time coming from Mikko Rantanen and Colton. They extended their winning streak to five games and began their four-game homestand with two points. Manson and Drouin had two assists.

“We talked about our discipline this morning and didn’t take a penalty the whole game,” Bednar said. “We’ll take the win. Great effort by our guys all the way around.”

Colorado got the scoring started with a redirect in front from Lehkonen. The Finnish forward has been on a roll lately and, again, found the back of the net doing what he does best: Battling in front of the crease.

Lehkonen ate a cross-check from Logan Stanley while setting a screen. Manson fired it from the point at the same time and Lehkonen, while falling forward, still managed to get a stick on it for his 14th of the season and fourth in two games.

The Avs carried that lead into the intermission thanks to a perfect 10-save period from starter Mackenzie Blackwood. The goalie improved to 5-1-0 in an Avalanche uniform, stopping 21 shots, including all five he faced in a third period that began with the score tied.

Colorado dominated play in front of him. And Blackwood couldn’t help but credit his defense, specifically the Cale Makar and Devon Toews pairing, for playing the way they did.

“You saw the third period tonight, right?” Blackwood said. “I think I had two or three shots. That’s what it’s like most of the time. They’re special players and it’s fun to watch them control the play.”

Blackwood has been in goal for four of Colorado’s five games during this winning streak.

After Winnipeg answered back in the second period, the Avs got their second goal from Toews. At the end of a strong shift for Colorado’s third line, Toews received a pass from Makar and fanned on the shot. The puck still managed to slide through the five hole of goalie Eric Comrie to give the blueliner his first goal in 19 games.

Toews played a team-high 25:38.

“I don’t care about scoring goals, I care about winning hockey games,” Toews told me. “That’s a really good hockey team over there but we played a really good game tonight.”

The Jets didn’t go down without a fight. Despite being on the second leg of a back to back with their backup goalie in net, Scott Arniel’s club managed to tie it up at 2-2 before the break.

It was a fortunate bounce on a big goal for Gabe Vilardi. But that was all Blackwood let in. For the sixth straight game since being acquired from San Jose, he didn’t let in more than two goals. BHe has a .936 save percentage with Colorado.

The Avs eventually got the goal from Mittelstadt before adding the empty netters. They improved to 23-15-0. With three games left before the half way point, they could find themselves at or above 25 wins through 41 games.

Impressive given the way the season started.

Good: Mittelstadt’s break through

Losing Nichushkin is unfortunate. There’s no other way to describe it. But it opened up an opportunity that the team needed Mittelstadt to desperately take advantage of and he did.

Mittelstadt looked like he had an extra jump in his step from the onset, but even more so in the third period when it was clear that he was going to be needed to step up. His goal was a hardworking play that he was rewarded for.

Perhaps it’ll get him going again. It feels like ages ago when he had 13 points in 10 games and looked like a spectacular piece of Colorado’s top power play to start the season.

Bad: Nichushkin injury

With Jonathan Drouin’s return, the Avalanche had a healthy top-six for exactly 35 minutes. Nichushkin left the game with 4:47 remaining in the second period and did not return.

On his last shift, he dumped the puck in just as he crossed the blue line and took an elbow to the head from Logan Stanley. It was a harmless play and an unnecessary hit. He let the officials hear about it on his way out.

Surprisingly, that play had nothing to do with his ailment. It’s a lower-body injury and Bednar said he’ll be evaluated before providing an update on his status. The Avs practice again on Wednesday.