The Colorado Avalanche ran into trouble in the Big-D as they fall from (to) the Stars 3-1. Semyon Varlamov started this game on the second leg of a back-to-back after Jonathan Bernier posted a win against the Anaheim Ducks. Not a whole lot to be happy about after tonight’s loss, though. Matt Duchene scored again (good) and the PK continues to shine (also good).
The Avs of Seasons Past
The first period was relatively uneventful on both sides of the ice, except for one penalty each on Esa Lindell and Nikita Zadorov for holding and roughing, respectively. The Stars drove the pace and play for the most part with lots of sloppy hockey in between. The scoring was opened up in the second period as both of the Stars...uh...stars scored goals. Jamie Benn snipes it far side after an agressive pinch from Zadorov and a 2-on-1 for the Stars. Tyler Seguin nets a power play goal with less than a second left in the middle period after a weak holding call on Sven Andrighetto.
The Avs came out in the third on fire as Duchene lets one rip and scores at 1:26. Shortly after, Benn and Zadorov collide behind the Avs net which leads to the only important highlight from this game. Z drops the gloves and starts swinging away as Benn is caught by surprise and does not have time to react. Meanwhile, Patrik Nemeth and Tyler Seguin get to pushing and shoving and eventually drop the gloves and duke it out. Nemeth ended up playing a shift after serving his fighting major, went back to the Avs locker room, and did not return. This was Seguin’s first fight in the NHL.
Only 2 or 3 more scoring chances later and Esa Lindell puts the nail in the coffin for the Stars with an empty net goal.
Observations
- Probably do not put J.T. Compher, Matt Nieto, and Patrik Nemeth out on a 5-on-3 kill. They did kill it off but do not do that, please.
- The Barrie-Nemeth pairing uncharacteristically gave up lots of good scoring chances.
- Nathan MacKinnon was not a big factor in tonight’s game. He left yesterday’s game with injury and did not return.
- The Avalanche looked like they reverted to last year’s form when pressured in the third period.
- The Avs winning streak will end at 3 and they will move to 4-2 on the season.
- Duchene continues to produce which is only a good thing for the Avs, whether he sticks around or gets shipped off.
What’s Next
The Avs will have the rest of the weekend off as they prepare to head to Nashville against the Predators. They will have just 7 games over the next 26 days before they head to Sweden for the NHL Global Series.