Avs Earn Much Needed Win Vs. Upstart Panthers

   



     Thursday night saw the Colorado Avalanche visiting the Florida Panthers during a lengthy road trip, looking to avoid a skid at all costs. Spoiler alert: they did.

Coming into this game, the Avs poor defensive display vs. Carolina led to a 44 save performance from Calvin Pickard and an eventual shootout loss. They allowed over 20 shots in the first period alone. Time after time, it has seemed like there have been turnovers at the worst moments, and they've been costly.

Puck drops, and 2:11 later Tyson Barrie is given all time in the world to walk in and snipe top corner to put the Avs up 1. Here comes the sleeping defensive routine, then (my) Calder favourite Aaron Ekblad scored a beautiful low blocker snapshot on the PP, and we were tied at one within the first five minutes.

The score remained, and the period ended. While heavily outshot, the Avs came back and began to turn the momentum their way. At the 13 minute mark, Landeskog got puck down low after a great offensive effort from O'Reilly, muscled his way to the net and buried the goal to put us up once again. Literally 23 seconds later, Barkov is fed a perfect dish infront of the net for a perfect redirection on net. Game's tied 2-2, and it's almost like nothing just happened. The Avs managed to bring the shot total much closer in the frame, but with the game tied, they needed to come out with a strong 3rd period.

That they did.

The Avs were able to sustain pressure in the offensive zone, cause turnovers, and win the battles down low. The Duchene-Tanguay-Iginla line had a shift that seemed to be pushing 2 minutes, then in came the Mitchell line to lay it on heavy. Earning a powerplay, Holden was able to get a shot from the point make its way to the net to put the Avs up one final time.

Unlike previous games, the Avs were able to play solid defensively. They made smart passes, played their zones effectively, and even apply more pressure in their end. Iggy capped the night off with an empty netter, which tied him with Mike Bossy for 20th on the all-time goals list.






Brian