Recap: Avalanche offense goes silent in loss to wounded Wild

2 days ago  /  Mile High Hockey

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images


Mackenzie Blackwood was outstanding and Nathan MacKinnon had a brilliant goal, but it wasn’t enough to get the win. This time, the win went to the wounded warriors.
The Minnesota Wild were missing Kirill Kaprisov and a few other key players on Monday against the Colorado Avalanche, but it didn’t matter. The Wild entered this matchup having lost four of their last five games, including a 6-1 blowout defeat against Colorado on January 9. However, this game had a different outcome.
Jake Middleton had a goal and an assist, and Liam Ohgren supplied two assists, but it was the third period that sealed the deal when Yakov Trenin and Brock Faber scored less than two minutes apart early in the frame to hand Minnesota A 3-1 victory. Nathan MacKinnon scored the lone goal for Colorado in the second period as the Avs slipped to 5-4-1 over their last 10 contests. It was a brilliant score for Mac, but it wasn’t enough against their Central Division rivals.
Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 23 saves on 26 shots, and Minnesota’s Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 26 of 27 shots.
It was a long, frustrating day for the Avalanche. Social media is a very divisive place, and no one should be surprised if fans take their jabs at Blackwood. However, in reality, he was the reason the game remained close. He was incredible, but the lack of offense came back to bite them as they were outshot 22-11 through the first two periods.
First Period
Jake Middleton scored the lone goal of the opening period. His shot from the left point beat Blackwood at 12:18 as the puck sizzled past a plethora of bodies in front of the net. While the Wild finished the period with the lead, it was the heroics of Blackwood that saved the day.
With eight seconds remaining, David Jiricek appeared to have a wide-open net from the left circle, but his shot was denied in a highway robbery as Blackwood lunged to his right to make one of the best saves of the season.
Second Period
Blackwood shut the Wild down in the second period and was simply outstanding. With Minnesota on the man advantage, Joel Eriksson fired a one-timer from the slot after being fed a great pass from Marco Rossi, but Blackwood made a great glove save.
The Avs showed further signs of life when MacKinnon scored to tie the game at one. The reigning MVP started the sequence by blocking a shot in his own zone before regaining control of the puck and carrying it into enemy territory. After fooling Middleton out of his boots, he slid a pass to Samuel Girard, who returned the favor to MacKinnon before he deked by Yakov Trenin and snapped a shot past Fleury with 1:08 left in the second. The goal was MacKinnon’s 18th of the season for his league-leading 74th point. He also scored two goals against the Edmonton Oilers on January 16. In his last three games, MacKinnon has scored three goals and an assist.
Third Period
Trenin recovered early in the third period to give the Wild the lead over his former club at 2:08. It all occurred after Jiricek set him up in the slot for a one-timer. 2:35 later, Brock Faber made it a two-goal lead to give Minnesota a two-goal advantage. That play was formulated after Jusso Parssinen’s attempted dump was intercepted and turned into a score. Ryan Hartman found an unguarded Faber at the top of the zone and beat Blackwood in a game of 1-on-1.
No excuses, the Wild were simply the better team and they did it without Kaprisov, who has a solid case to win the Hart this year.

Takeaways
Sometimes you’re going to have tough games and this is what we saw Monday afternoon. Blackwood was phenomenal, but he didn’t have the consistent offensive support that we’re accustomed to seeing from this team. Turnovers continue to be a big problem for Colorado. Last week, a statistic was released that showed the Avalanche ranked 11th in total giveaways for the season with 679 in 45 games. That number is higher now and Colorado will have to keep working at it.
Upcoming
The homestand continues on Wednesday as the Avalanche (28-19-1) take on the Central Division-leading Winnipeg Jets (31-13-3) at Ball Arena. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. local time. ...

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