strikes again.
In a wild third period on Saturday night at the , the NHL’s points leader again demonstrated why he’s the most dynamic offensive force in hockey right now with a late third period goal that propelled the Avalanche to a 3-2 victory over the .
Colorado led 1-0 after two periods thanks to ‘s goal on a night where, through the first 40 minutes, the team’s lamp-lighting chances were plenty but its scoring sparse.
But the Stars stunned Colorado with two goals in a matter of four minutes in the latter half of the third period, and it was late offensive heroics by — on a rebound goal — and Rantanen that ultimately swung the game back in Colorado’s favor for its fourth straight win.
“This win tells us a lot about our team,” Rantanen said. “We started the third a little bit slow, and they went up 2-1. … But we were pushing, and the tying goal was a piece of art from that line. They were humming for it.”
The teams traded scoring chances in the opening period, but both and Stars goalie Anton Khudobin posted six saves apiece to keep the game scoreless heading into the second.
Colorado’s best chance in the first period came with less than two minutes to play, when Khudobin was caught out of position behind the net. ‘s shot on a near-empty net was blocked by , and the Stars wouldn’t be the only ones to escape a defensive breakdown as Varlamov’s pads also made up for several Colorado turnovers in its own defensive zone.
The second continued that near-miss trend, as there were three penalties in that period just like the first. Colorado — which entered the night ranked first in the NHL with 24 goals in 75 power plays, a 32.0 percent success rate — couldn’t cash in on its second and third special teams chances of the night as Khudobin continually quashed the Avalanche rush.
“Early on in the game, a lot of those rebounds in front of the net were popping by us because we didn’t have enough depth in front of the net,” coach Jared Bednar said. “We were too tight to the goal.”
But Colorado’s top line finally broke through against its Central division rivals with 6:49 to play in the second. Rantanen scooped up a loose puck from behind the net and quickly fed it to , who found MacKinnnon wide open at the bottom of the left faceoff circle. MacKinnon one-timed the pass home past Khudobin, finally beaten for the first time all night.
And while MacKinnon’s 15th goal of the season gave Colorado a 1-0 advantage, Varlamov did his job to protect it. That included eight saves in the period, including a crowd-pleasing stop on a 2-on-1 Stars’ rush late in the second following a sloppy turnover by Girard in the defensive zone.
In the third, Varlamov continued to stonewall, with a little help from his defense. Five minutes into the period, Varlamov stopped a Stars’ slap shot but the puck petered slowly between his legs. It was only Girard’s diving effort to slap the puck away that prevented the equalizing goal.
“Our whole team was committed defensively tonight,” Bednar said.
But with Varlamov 8:28 from his first shutout of the season, the Stars won the draw, and then the puck kicked around in front of the net before Radek Faksa beat Varlamov in the bottom right corner. Then Jamie Benn’s goal from the top right of crease with 4:57 left gave Dallas a 2-1 lead before Compher and Rantanen’s goals sealed Colorado’s sixth comeback win of the year.
“There was a rush, and (MacKinnon) found (Erik Johnson) coming in late,” Rantanen said of his game-winner. “Johnson got a shot there, and I after that I got a fortunate bounce right on my tape in front of an empty net.”
Colorado (13-6-4) now heads back on the road to take on Nashville on Tuesday before returning to Denver for games against Pittsburgh (Nov. 28) and St. Louis (Nov. 30). Bednar said he’s encouraged by the recent swell from his team, which prior to its win streak had lost five straight games from Oct. 27 to Nov. 9.
“Our buy-in is stronger, our commitment to defend is stronger, our commitment to get above pucks is stronger — and it’s leading to more offense,” Bednar said. “Now that we’ve had success coming out of (the win streak), the players realize the importance of staying committed to that intensity.”
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