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| Gabriel Landeskog, Jan Hejda, P.A. Parenteau and Erik Johnson celebrate with Nathan MacKinnon after his 2nd period goal (the eventual GWG) |
Goals:
COL - Jan Hejda (3) - from Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon (3:45 1ST)
COL - Nathan MacKinnon (4) - from Gabriel Landeskog and Erik Johnson (4:34 2ND)
MIN - Dany Heatley (6) - from Nino Niederreiter and Erik Haula (15:02 2ND)
COL - Gabriel Landeskog EN (8) - from Marc-Andre Cliche (19:40 3RD)
Goalies:
WG - J.S. Giguere (27 saves on 28 shots: 6-0-0) LG - Josh Harding (18 saves on 20 shots: 13-4-2)
J.S. Giguere became the 1st goalie in franchise history to start the season 6-0-0, as he lead the Avs to a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild tonight. The Avs were playing without Alex Tanguay and Paul Stastny, and then watched Cody McLeod get a 5-minute major and game misconduct for boarding late in the 1st and had to play with 11 forwards for 2 periods. The 36-year old Giguere looks completely rejuvenated this season for the Avs, and he was brilliant tonight making 27 saves on 28 shots. The Avs opened the scoring in the 1st, as a point shot by Jan Hejda made its way past Josh Harding. The Avs lead 1-0 after the 1st, as shots were 8-6 in their favour. Cody McLeod picked up his boarding major at 17:24 in the 1st, so the Avs killed off 2:36 of the penalty in the 1st and the rest to start the 2nd. It was an impressive 5-minute kill for the Avs, and they were able to build off that. Nathan MacKinnon tipped home a Landeskog shot for his 4th goal of the season, just minutes after the 5-minute kill. The Wild would get one back with 5 minutes left in the 2nd, as Dany Heatley put home a pass from Nino Niederreiter, no chance for Giguere. The Avs took a 2-1 lead into the intermission, as shots were 8-6 in the 2nd and 16-12 overall. In the 3rd the Avs looked to take a 3-1 lead, as a rush by Nathan MacKinnon was stopped by Harding but Landeskog put home the rebound. However, the refs ruled that it was goalie interference and called the goal off. This was one of the worst calls I have ever seen, way too often are NHL refs making the wrong call on goalie interference and this was a perfect example. If you see the replay MacKinnon is shoved into Harding by the Wild defenseman, which is NOT goalie interference. Goalie interference is when a player interferes with the goalie ON HIS OWN POWER, and this was clearly not the case, just a horrible call by the ref. From that point on the Wild really picked up the pace, the Avs sat back and defended the lead and were lucky to keep it. J.S. Giguere made some big saves down the stretch, and Landeskog would get his deserved goal scoring the empty netter. The Avs would hold on for a 3-1 win, despite being outshot 16-5 in the 3rd and 28-21 overall. A big game from the Landeskog-MacKinnon-Parenteau line, which generated all 3 of the Avs goals. Overall not the best performance of the season, but all that matters is the all-important 2 points that the Avs got. The teams will meet tomorrow night in Denver for the 2nd of a double-header.
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| Both benches look on after a scrum ensues from the Cody McLeod hit on Jonas Brodin |
Three Stars:
3. J.S. Giguere - Jiggy made 27 saves on 28 shots in the win, improving to 6-0-0 on the season.
2. Nathan MacKinnon - MacKinnon picked up his 4th goal of the season and added an assist, as well as his goal was the game-winner (2nd career GWG).
1. Gabriel Landeskog - The Avs captain was the best player on the ice tonight, scoring 1 goal and adding 2 assists.
Play of the Game - MacKinnon's goal gets it tonight, great hand-eye coordination by MacKinnon to tip the shot past Harding.
Game #25 - The Avs and Wild will meet in Denver for the 2nd game of a double-header tomorrow night (@9PM ET)
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| Nathan MacKinnon and Nino Niederreiter get into a post-whistle scrum late in the 2nd period |
-Joel Forman - Colorado Avalanche News
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