In starting its 23rd season against the rival Minnesota Wild on Thursday nightthat the Avalanche mostly dominated play at a match that went down to the cable.
The Avs used goals from Carl Soderberg and Nathan MacKinnon to overcome an early deficit and obtained late empty-net tallies from Mikko Rantanen along with J.T. Compher to skate from their Pepsi Center using a 4-1 triumph. They outshot the Wild 40-21 and killed off all three Minnesota power plays.
“It’s nice to begin the season 1-0,” MacKinnon stated. “Ton of photos. We scored when we needed to and made some plays. ”
Goalie Semyon Varlamov got the win in his 400th career NHL game and the Avs enhanced to 15-5-3 in house garages.
Rantanen and Soderberg each had a goal and an assist for team-high two-point games.
“The greatest thing would be for the group to get two points,” Rantanen, who helped on MacKinnon’s game-winning target, said of the two-point game. “There’s things we could be better at as a lineup, especially defensively in the neutral zone. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a good beginning and a large two points. It’s great to have things rolling. ”
The Avs outshot the Wild 14-5 after the first phase and 32-13 after the second. Both teams had two power plays through 40 minutes so Colorado’s shot advantage wasn’t because of excess time with the man-advantage.
The Avs had a disallowed goal 1:26 into the next phase. Colorado ahead Colin Wilson struck the puck at the Wild internet with what looked like his rod. But movie game showed the puck went in off Wilson’s lower hand since he griping his rod.
Minnesota controlled the first 10 minutes of the next stage but the Avalanche ultimately took the control back.
“First and second (periods) we had been really great. We had been quick, fast with the puck and shooting the puck,” Rantanen stated. “In the next, we were a little bit flat, maybe because we had the result. I thought we ought to have kept grinding and turning pucks over the neutral zone. ”
Minnesota got the game’s goal 6:14 into the first phase. Behind the Colorado target point, captain Mikko Koivu centered the puck into Zach Parise at the top of the crease and Parise banged it in past Varlamov. The Avs didn’t fear and pulled at 12:29 once Soderberg used a Wild defenseman as a monitor and wristed the puck past goalie Devan Dubnyk.
MacKinnon gave the Avs their first lead of the season at 10:26 of the second period. MacKinnon drove into the internet from the rear door and tapped at a perfect centering pass from Rantanen, his right winger.
“We made several errors,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We didn’t deal with the puck as great as we can of down the stretch. But first time we had a fantastic shot mentality, we had opportunities , we had been on the hunt and playing on our toes, creating instant opportunities. Second period. ”
He included: “Overallthere’s a lot of things to like, a lot of items to can review and a lot of items we could build on. ”
The Avs’ performance within their first match in the home wasn’t surprising, since they went 28-11-1 at home last season, tying the club record for home wins in one season. The Avs were 18-4-1 in their last 23 home games a year ago, a run that included a franchise record-tying 10-game winning streak at the Pepsi Center.
Colorado will finish its own two-game homestand Saturday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, who performed Las Vegas on Thursday.
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