The Avalanche had to do it differently Tuesday night.
In their first game without injured superstar Nathan MacKinnon, the Avs couldn’t count on the perennial Hart Trophy candidate to provide his elite skills in all three zones. They were forced to accept the fact they must learn to win without MacKinnon because, according to coach Jared Bednar, he could be out for multiple weeks from a mysterious lower-body injury suffered Sunday in Minnesota.
“We know how great Nate has been for us over the last few years,” center J.T. Compher, MacKinnjon’s replacement on the top line with wingers Gabe Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, said pregame. “With that said, I’m not Nate. I need to just play my game, support those guys, and do what I can to help the team win.”
Mission accomplished. The top line didn’t score in the third of four consecutive games against Minnesota, but the Avs’ all-around depth was good enough to forge a 2-1 victory at Ball Arena. Colorado got goals from depth forwards Logan O’Connor and Valeri Nichushkin and goalie Philipp Grubauer stopped 27-of-28 shots for his NHL-leading seventh win.
The Avs had successfully killed 22 consecutive power plays entering Tuesday, but Minnesota, while trailing 2-0, scored on its third man-advantage opportunity to end the streak at 24. Wild rookie winger Kirill Kaprizov got the goal at 13:05 off a nice pass form Zach Parise.
But Colorado probably didn’t have a problem with the penalty that created the power play. Minnesota forward Kyle Rau forechecked hard into the corner as Avs star defenseman Cale Makar was playing the puck with a defender draped on him. Rau created a 2-on-1 advantage and delivered what looked like a dangerous hit on Makar.
Rau fell to the ice on the play, rose to his skates and Compher was ready to fight. Both received fighting majors and Compher drew an additional minor for unsportsmanlike conduct (instigating).
In addition to the goal-allowed, the Avs had to play without their first-line center for seven minutes.
The Avs scored first for the ninth time in 11 games. Fourth-liner O’Connor (who is still technically an NHL rookie) made it 1-0 at 17:45 of the first period. He picked up a loose puck beside the right post, threw it at Talbot and the puck caromed in off his pads. It was O’Connor’s second goal in three games since being recalled.
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MacKinnon is the newcomer to the injury list. Defensemen Erik Johnson and Devon Toews missed their second and third-straight games, respectively. Forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also missed his third-straight. Winger Matt Calvert missed his fourth and goalie Pavel Francouz, who backed up Grubauer in the first two games, has been on the injured list the last nine games.
Colorado went ahead 2-0 at 7:09 of the second period. Joonas Donskoi won the draw in Minnesota’s end and managed to also get off a quick shot. Nichushkin drove to the net and slapped the rebound in between Talbot’s legs.
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