One weekend ago was a low point in this up-and-down Colorado Avalanche season. This one is going to feel a lot better.
Buoyed by a dominant second period, the Avs defeated the Minnesota Wild, 5-2, on Friday night at Ball Arena. Ross Colton had two goals and a three-point night, while Oliver Kylington added two assists as the Avs got multiple goals from depth scorers for a second straight contest.
It was also the second straight impressive performance at home against a likely Stanley Cup playoff team, which came directly after back-to-back losses last weekend to a pair of clubs that are likely to be at home when the postseason begins.
“I think we just had a glitch,” Kylington said of last weekend. “I thought we showed the way to bounce back against (New) Jersey and today we showed that we’re still a good team. Sometimes that happens. We just had to get back to the fundamentals, get back to playing for each other trust what we do.”
The win gives the Avs 72 points, which ties the Wild for third place in the Central Division. Minnesota is still officially in third because the Wild have a game in hand, and are ahead on points percentage.
Colorado took control of this contest with a fantastic second period. Minnesota played the previous night in Utah and was missing three top-six forwards: Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan Hartman. It showed during the middle frame.
The Avs racked up three goals on 13 shots and plenty of other chances. Kylington, who had a critical turnover early in this one, set up two of the Avs’ tallies.
“I’m feeling good, finally,” said Kylington, who recently returned after missing 31 games with an upper-body injury. “It’s been a long journey, with the injury I had. I’m just happy to be playing again and feeling good.”
Kylington made a great two-way play to start the onslaught. He broke up a Minnesota rush in the neutral zone, collected the puck and then connected with Jonathan Drouin on a long pass for a breakaway goal at 8:57.
Jack Drury gave the Avs a 3-2 lead less than a minute later. A Cale Makar shot missed the net, but bounced off the end boards to Drury. He was able to backhand it from a tight angle off Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson.
Colton helped set up Drury’s goal and then scored his own at 14:39. Joel Kiviranta made a nice play along the left wall in the defensive zone, which created a 2-on-1 for Kylington and Colton. Kylington’s pass was deflected, but it still got to Colton and he buried his first goal since Dec. 9.
Colton, after saying earlier this week that he’s never gone through a slump like this in his career, now has four points in the past two contests.
“We’re doing a lot of things right,” Colton said of his line. “It’s a tough to score in. There’s going to be ups and downs. For me, it was trying to stay positive. … It was nice to get rewarded.”
Mats Zuccarello gave Minnesota the lead at 4:14 of the opening period. Marcus Johansson picked off a pass from Kylington along the right wall and immediately snapped a pass to a wide-open Zuccarello in front of the Colorado net.
Valeri Nichushkin collected his first goal since missing 21 games with a lower-body injury to even the score. After Artturi Lehkonen drew a penalty, Nathan MacKinnon slipped a saucer pass to Nichushkin in the slot for a one-timer at 13:58 of the first.
It was Nichushkin’s 12th goal in 23 games this season. The assist, which was MacKinnon’s 91st point of the season, increased his lead over Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl in the NHL scoring race to three.
MacKinnon hit the right post late in the first period, and Colorado had a couple of other great chances, but Minnesota regained the lead with its own extra-man tally at 17:42. Vinnie Hinostroza tipped a Brock Faber shot from the right point past Avs goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.
It wasn’t a near-perfect performance like two nights prior against the Devils, but it was an important victory for the Avs.
“It’s a good start to the homestand,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Pretty happy with what we’re doing.
“We made some strange reads and gave up some chances that I didn’t like, but on the offensive side, we kept doing some good things.”
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