|
|
Colorado beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in the first game of a four-game road trip out east. The team started with high energy but fought to hold on to the win in the final minutes of the game.
“I thought our start was great. Loved our first period, that second probably got even better. They caught a couple rush chances in the first period and a couple in the second — some of them bad luck, Cale (Makar) breaks his stick on the power play; they get the 2-on-1,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “They got in behind us a couple times in the first period and I thought the second period was even better. I thought overall the defending game was really good til probably the last eight minutes of the game but they were coming hard with extra men.”
Inside the Locker Room: What Line Changes Will Avalanche Make? (+)
Makar scored two goals in the second period, and Casey Mittelstadt scored the game-winner at 11:26 in the third to make it 3-0. The Avs fell back on their heels to defend the lead in the last eight minutes of the game, but Justus Annunen made some big saves to earn the team two points.
“He had a great game — to keep it at zero that long and to let us build the lead is exactly what we needed to see from him as a bounce-back game, not just for Justus but for our whole team,” Bednar said. “We had an underwhelming game at home against Wash (Washington Capitals) and the results showed that and we wanted to be better and they were.”
Mittelstadt has been held scoreless for the last three games and has had to adjust to different wingers with Valeri Nichushkin and Jonathan Drouin returning to the lineup. He stuck to his game, and his efforts paid off with the game-winning goal, earning him the “Player of the Game” big hat.
The Avs’ full team effort earned the win, and Makar acknowledged the defense’s efforts, specifically those of the two Sams — Girard and Malinski.
“He’s (Girard) playing really well. We had a lot of guys play well tonight, Malinski as well, broke up a huge 2-on-1 there with the slide,” Makar said. “It’s good. When our team’s rolling offensively it’s fun on the backend because we can kind of play around and use our feet.”
Mittelstadt said it was a good way to start off the road trip. He praised Makar’s skill saying he was “electric as always. I think he’s the best player, pretty much every night, so good for him. His skating and the way he can manipulate the play is pretty insane so very lucky he’s on our team.”
Gabriel Landeskog Part of EJ’s 1,000th Game Tribute
Longtime former Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson played his 1,000th career NHL game against the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night but celebrated the milestone on Monday. He played 13 seasons with the Avs and won his only Stanley Cup with the team in 2022.
Captain Gabriel Landeskog joined EJ on the ice to present him with a commemorative portrait and a trip for him and his wife to Napa Valley, California. The 36-year-old Bloomington, Minnesota native is a food and wine connoisseur with stakes in numerous racehorses.
Around the NHL
Philly Hockey Now: While the Flyers attempted a comeback in the second half of the third period, it wasn’t enough to get the win. Head coach John Tortorella scolded his forward Travis Konecny for not covering Cale Makar and “leaving the best player in the world” open.
His frustration was felt in the postgame interviews as he said, “A lot of the game I liked as we kept going, but goddamn we do some stupid stuff. It’s so aggravating.”
Detroit Hockey Now: The Red Wings struggled on their road trip to the Golden State with a loss to the San Jose Sharks 5-4 in overtime on Monday night. The Wings lost to the LA Kings and Anaheim Ducks to head back to the Motor City 0-2-1 in their last three games.