Recap: Avs spoil Kings opening night with Rantanen rout

1 year ago  /  Mile High Hockey

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images


The stars are back and are shining bright for Colorado! The NHL season is back and it is beautiful.
The Colorado Avalanche showed off their beauty and star power with a prominent 5-2 win to spoil the Los Angeles Kings’ opening night festivities. It came off the back of Mikko Rantanen’s four points.
He and the entire first line in general took over the game early on, and it was all they needed in the end to pull out the win. They start the season off in the right way on this week-long road trip.
First Period
The first period saw Nathan MacKinnon be a man on a mission. He had an early rush Cam Talbot could control before the penalty kill got their first action of the season with a Valeri Nichushkin hooking penalty they managed to kill off.
This only rested MacKinnon for a couple of minutes and got him on the scoreboard for the first of many times this season. You might want to get used to this sight with assists coming from Rantanen and Jonathan Drouin.


The Mack Attack is Back for the 2023-24 season! #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/RpKtUvbk3J— Mile High Hockey (@MileHighHockey) October 12, 2023



The Kings would start to grow back into the game after the goal when Kevin Fiala shot one off the crossbar from Downtown LA which Alexandar Georgiev never saw. Afterward, a flurry of penalties from both sides slowed the game flow down.
Regardless, it gave the Avalanche penalty kill to keep their perfect record and get some more work in. MacKinnon had a couple of golden chances right in front of the net at the end of the period but none of them found the twine heading into the break.
Second Period
Rantanen got the action started, laying out Andre Kopitar in the opening seconds of the period. Jack Johnson would only help further, drawing a tripping penalty from Carl Grundstrom. This led one of his other defensive teammates, Cale Makar, to rip his first of the season. Just 51 seconds later, Rantanen got his third point of the game with this tight-angle goal and made it a 3-0 game just like that.


ALL! HAIL! CALE! For the first time this season! #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/kfG5A1LeMi— Mile High Hockey (@MileHighHockey) October 12, 2023





for the first time this season! #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/RdOpFMpkA4— Mile High Hockey (@MileHighHockey) October 12, 2023



However, chaos ensued after this stretch. Ross Colton was on the receiving end of a slash from Phillip Danault which wasn’t called and left him injured. Later, Grundstrom would rebound from his penalty earlier in the period to get the Kings on the board.


KINGS SHORTY ALERT. Carl Grundstrom's hard forecheck pays off with a short-handed goal. pic.twitter.com/ZrqKK1SOhe— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 12, 2023



They would have another chance when Makar took a cross-checking penalty but had the heroics of Georgiev to thank. Frederik Olofsson then barely avoided a gnarly knee-on-knee hit from Pierre-Luc Dubois which led to a major scrum with multiple penalties, including the first fight of the year between Logan O’Connor and NHL debutant Alex Laferriere.


Here's the video of Dubois clipping Olofsson with his leg#GoKingsGo | #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/LfpJxcMejb— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) October 12, 2023





First time I've seen a family celebrate a guy fighting in his NHL debut like Alex Laferriere's family pic.twitter.com/j6i0aHfQLs— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) October 12, 2023



This would give the Kings life, as in the dying seconds of the period Quinton Byfield managed to poke one off of Makar’s stick past Georgiev to make it 3-2 with only 4.6 seconds left. It shifted the momentum away from the Avs as they looked to shut things down in the final 20 minutes after a wild period.


Quinton Byfield chases down the loose puck and pinballs one home in the final seconds of the 2nd!#GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/SHpoCot2PC— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) October 12, 2023



Third Period
Bowen Byram took the headlines to start the period with a cross-checking call on Danault right along the boards which could’ve been bad. But after it was killed off, Jack Johnson found himself on the scoresheet after his shot from the point was tipped in by Rantanen to increase the lead to 4-2.


Mikko Rantanen has his FOURTH point of the game! He truly is loose! #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/ea1RFbW1cd— Mile High Hockey (@MileHighHockey) October 12, 2023



Byram had another penalty just minutes later with a boarding call on a shoulder-to-shoulder hit on Adrian Kempe. Luckily, it was killed off yet again by another great penalty kill.
The Avs played shutdown hockey from there while driving to the net with some chances. These chances included Nichushkin and Miles Wood, who just couldn’t beat Talbot to put the game away for good.
Luckily for Wood, he would put the game away for good on an empty-netter with just under four minutes to go in the period. He got help from a diving Colton put it into a gaping net and put the game away in a 5-2 final.


*Releases deep breath*Empty netter!#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/zNTTKMRLZz— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 12, 2023



Takeaways
The big stars came out in the LA spotlights. MacKinnon and Rantanen were undoubtedly the said stars, as MacKinnon recorded a goal and two assists. Meanwhile, Rantanen was involved in all four goals with two goals and assists. Makar was also involved with a goal and assist of his own as well. Their star power was needed and certainly made a difference in the end result. Special shoutout to Miles Wood
When things got feisty and unsteady in the middle frame and third period, Georgiev stepped up in a big way as we saw plenty of last season. He made 34 saves on 36 shots and stood out in particular on the penalty kill. Speaking of the penalty kill, they managed to kill off all five chances the Kings had on the night. It was good to see them rolling but obviously will want to cut down on those penalties and have more composure.
There was definitely some concern towards the end of the second period when the Kings were within one thanks to their last-second goal in the period. The Avs blew a 3-0 lead in their last preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights with a very similar lineup and lost that game 4-3 in the end. Whatever is causing the near-comebacks, Jared Bednar and his staff will want to cut it out so they can put away games more easily as the season progresses.
Upcoming
The maiden road trip of the year continues with a trip up the coast to face the San Jose Sharks. Puck drop is another late 8:00 p.m. one on Saturday night....

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