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| Nathan MacKinnon celebrates his 5th goal of the season with his teammates |
Goals:
COL - Gabriel Landeskog (9) - from John Mitchell (2:22 1ST)
COL - Nathan MacKinnon (5) - from John Mitchell and Ryan O'Reilly (12:56 2ND)
MIN - Matt Cooke (4) - from Torrey Mitchell and Kyle Brodziak (16:33 3RD)
MIN - Mikko Koivu (6) - from Zach Parise and Kyle Brodziak (19:54 3RD)
Shootout winner - Ryan O'Reilly (COL)
Goalies:
WG - Semyon Varlamov (35 saves on 37 shots: 13-6-0) LG - Josh Harding (23 saves on 25 shots: 13-4-4)
The Avs defeated the Minnesota for the 2nd straight night, beating the Wild 3-2 in a shootout for a sweep of the double-header. After back-to-back games I can only say how great the competition level has been, both teams fight hard in a very exciting 2 games. It almost felt like a playoff atmosphere, there was lots of hate between the teams and it created 2 intense hockey games, the Avs were lucky enough to win both. Despite winning last night in Minnesota, Avs head coach Patrick Roy was not shy about changing his lines and made some big moves, partly due to the fact that Paul Stastny returned from injury. The Avs started Talbot with O'Reilly Duchene, Landeskog with MacKinnon and Mitchell, McGinn with Stastny and Parenteau. However by the 2nd period Roy made some changes, going with MacKinnon Duchene O'Reilly, Landeskog Stastny Parenteau, McGinn Mitchell Talbot. The Avs opened the scoring early in the 1st for the 2nd straight game, as Landeskog put a rebound past Harding for the 1-0 lead. The goal was set up by John Mitchell who caused a turnover behind the Wild net. The Avs would keep a 1-0 lead going into the intermission, a very fast-paced period as both teams had 11 shots. The Avs would then take a 2-0 lead in the 2nd, as Nathan MacKinnon converted on another John Mitchell-forced turnover, and made no mistake beating Harding high glove on a beautiful wrist shot. The 2nd straight game where both Landeskog and MacKinnon scored for the Avs. The score remained 2-0 after the 2nd, with shots 11-8 for the Wild in the 2nd and 22-19 overall. For most of the 3rd the play remained even, no team took many chances and the score stayed the same. With just under 4 minutes left the Wild got on the board, as a turnover at the Avs blueline lead to a Matt Cooke goal. The Wild would then tie the game with 6 seconds left, another bad turnover left Mikko Koivu wide open in the slot who beat Varly off the post and in. A tough last 4 minutes for the Avs, they watched a 2-goal lead disappear. The teams went to OT, both teams had their chances but no one could score a goal. The Avs were headed to their 1st shootout of the season: Parenteau missed, Parise missed, MacKinnon missed (1st career shootout) and Koivu missed. Ryan O'Reilly was up 3rd for the avs, who made a nifty move before sliding it five-hole past Harding. Varlamov would then make an ice glove save on Pominville to seal the win for the Avs, and they are now 19-6 on the season. Overall not the way they wanted to do it, but once again the important thing to take away is the Avs picked up 2 points.
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| Nathan MacKinnon celebrates his 2nd period goal |
Three Stars:
3. Nathan MacKinnon - MacKinnon had a goal in his 2nd straight game, the 1st time in his NHL career he has done so.
2. Ryan O'Reilly - The player they call "The Factor" came up big tonight, scoring the shootout winner and assisting on MacKinon's goal.
1. Semyon Varlamov - Varly was stellar tonight, he probably deserved a better outcome than the 2 late goals but he picked up the win making 35 save on 37 shots.
Game #26 - The Avs have 4 days off before they start off December with a 3-game Canadian road trip, starting in Edmonton with a game against the Oilers on Thursday night (@930PM ET)
-Joel Forman - Colorado Avalanche News
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