Recap: Ross Colton scores twice, Avs light up the lamp in 5-2 win

5 hours ago  /  Mile High Hockey

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images


A lot of players who needed sparks were major contributors in tonight’s win. It was a wild night.
Ross Colton scored two goals and an assist to help the Colorado Avalanche defeat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 at Ball Arena on Friday. Furthermore, Colorado also took a 2-1 lead over Minnesota for the season. Oliver Kylington also contributed with a pair of assists while Valeri Nichushkin, Jonathan Drouin, and Jack Drury each found the net for the Avs. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 18 of the 20 shots he faced and came up big in several key moments.
With the victory, the Avs improved to 35-24-2. Their 72 points put them in a tie with the Wild for third place in the Central Division.
First Period
Mats Zuccarello scored his 13th goal of the season just 4:23 into the game when Colorado turned the puck over own zone. After Marcus Johansson gained control of the puck, he spun around and found Zuccarello sitting in the slot uncovered and fired it by Blackwood to make it a 1-0 game.
Moments later, the Avalanche defense committed another costly turnover, but Blackwood kept it a 1-0 score when he made a Dominik Hasek-esque butterfly save.
Then 13:58 into the frame, Nichushkin tied the game at one with a one-timer in the slot. After MacKinnon’s pass was initially deflected, Nichushkin kept his eyes on the puck and still found a way to blast it by Gustavsson.
An awkward moment occurred late in the first when Johansson lost a skate blade and tried to crawl his way to the bench and actually received some assistance from one of the officials. Moments later, Lehkonen was sent to the box for high-sticking, and the Wild followed up by scoring on the powerplay to make it a 2-1 game. Vinnie Hinostroza was credited with the score after he redirected a shot from Brock Faber for his third goal of the season.
With just over a minute left in the period, Marat Khusnutdinov brought Devon Toews down from a hook to put Colorado on the power play.
Second Period
The power play continued into the second period of play, but just like the first opportunity, they failed to convert, as the decaf coffee continued to take hold of the Colorado offense.
However, the Avalanche came alive, scoring two goals in 52 seconds. The first one came with 11:03 remaining in the frame, Oliver Kylington surveyed the ice and connected with Drouin for a breakaway goal to make it a 2-2 game. For Drouin, it was his seventh of the season, and it was a beautiful top-shelf score.
Colorado quickly scored again when Drury grabbed ahold of a rebound and fired a backhander by Gustavsson to give the Avs a 3-2 lead.
The Avalanche scored their third goal of the period with 5:21 remaining when Ross Colton fired home his 14th of the season. It all started when Kylington carried the puck across the blue line and attempted to make a pass. Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin deflected it, but that didn’t deter Colton from teeing up a powerful slapper that beat Gustavsson glove side to give Colorado a 4-2 advantage.
Third Period
The final frame kicked off with a penalty for the Avalanche when Casey Mittelstadt was busted for hooking Zuccarello. The Avs’s penalty kill was stout as they held their opponents shotless. However, Colorado right back on the kill after MacKinnon was sent to the box for unsportsmanlike conduct after barking at the officials after getting slashed twice on the hands with no penalty being called.
With 10:43 to go in regulation, Blackwood robbed Faber with a scintillating glove save.
MacKinnon attempted to snag an insurance marker late in the game, but the puck was poke-checked away, and Logan O’Connor missed an open net while Gustavsson was heading to the net for the extra attacker.
Colton scored his second goal of the game and 15th of the season with an empty-netter with eight seconds left in the game to give the Avs a 5-2 win. Blackwood also picked up his first point with the Avalanche with an assist on the play.

Takeaways
Colorado bounced back after a shaky start in the opening period and a quartet of turnovers that gave the Wild some ammo. The offense shined when it needed to and Colton got the monkey off his back, Kylington had a big game on Jared Bednar’s birthday, and Nichushkin played his heart out. This is what the Avalanche needed as they head down the stretch for the season. Now they just need to carry this momentum going into the playoffs.
Upcoming
The Avalanche get a three-day break before they hit the ice again on Tuesday against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, March 4th at Ball Arena. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. local time....

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