Makar Is King of Overtime

The Colorado Avalanche looked to balance the series with a team that they always seem to struggle against in the Arizona Coyotes. The Avalanche have been on a little bit of a slide lately, going 1-3-1 in their last five games. In the meantime, they are chasing the second place Minnesota Wild and went into the game trailing by just five points. Can Colorado push through this recent slide of theirs? It would take overtime to find out.  

First Period 

Colorado would strike first in the period with a face off win from Alex Newhook. Newhook pushed it to Brad Hunt and then Denis Malgin. The speedy forward would use that to his advantage and push to the front of the net for the opening goal.

A sloppy line change would lead to the first goal for the Arizona Coyotes. As the Avalanche went for the change the Coyotes quickly passed it up the ice and into the Colorado zone. Bowen Byram would lose an edge and hit the puck to Matias Maccelli, who set up the Jack McBain goal.

The second goal for Arizona was part laziness. As Barrett Hayton skated in the zone, he drew Byram out of position to open up Clayton Keller in the slot. The failure to backcheck by Nathan MacKinnon led to Keller being so open for the shot on goaltender Alexandar Georgiev. 

Second Period 

There is no secret that Colorado has had some issues converting on the power play lately. Their main issue being the entry on the rush. But, the third time was the charm on Saturday night. The first two chances the Avalanche had only resulted in two shots on goal, one coming with fifteen seconds left. On the third chance, Colorado was able to win the draw in the zone and control the puck early. Artturi Lehkonen took a shot on net while Mikko Rantanen grabbed the rebound right net to the net. He and MacKinnon played a little pass on the right side then MacKinnon saw his opportunity. He stepped in and sniped it over the glove of goaltender Connor Ingram to tie the game at two.

Third Period and Overtime

Everything that Colorado needed to do right in a hockey game, they did in the third period. Line changes were on point, defense tightened up, and players crashed the net. The Avalanche had so much pressure on the Coyotes that they outshot them 18-0.

One of the best chances came from a shot by Valeri Nichushkin that bounced off of the boards and in front of the net. Hunt crashed down the wing, but whiffed on the shot. Ingram played out of his mind in the third, drawing the game to overtime. Arizona would get initial possession, but Colorado took over. MacKinnon passed back to Cale Makar in the neutral zone and Makar said, “We are done here.” He skated in and dangled through a defender to knock a backhand shot in to end the game. 

Conclusion

Despite the many mistakes by the Avalanche at the beginning of the game, they were able to recover in the third. Little mistakes turned into big ones, and the Coyotes took advantage of the big ones. Colorado recovered and played like they should have against a team at the bottom of the standings. Tweaks need to be made in the power play and how they enter the zone to make it more effective. Colorado could have played a lot better of a game than they did, but barely held on to win in OT, 3-2.