Kurtis MacDermid celebrated his 28th birthday on Friday night at Ball Arena with a blast into the net.
The Avalanche defenseman is best known for his role as a 6-foot-5, 233-pound enforcer. But his second-period goal in Colorado’s home win over the Flyers was relished by teammates. MacDermid got the puck from a face-off win and hammered it home from just inside the blueline.
“It doesn’t happen too often,” said MacDermid when asked about scoring a goal on his birthday. “It was pretty cool.”
Colorado’s bench lit up with the crowd in celebration. It marked just the second goal for MacDermid in 49 games this season.
“Our guys love it,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “He’s earned it, right? He’s had a couple of good looks here and hasn’t been able to put it in the net. Tonight, he gets in a real good spot, unloads it and scores. Our guys were happy for him.”
MacDermid spent his first four NHL seasons with the Los Angeles Kings. Colorado traded for him last year to get needed physicality for a defensive unit that thrives on speed and skill.
“He’s hard to play against. He’s limited his mistakes. He’s improving his puck play,” Bednar said. “He feels pretty comfortable with pressure coming at him, especially when he gets the puck on his forehand to be able to get it up and out. Itap a simple game but itap effective.”
Defenseman Cale Makar added: “You saw that any rush they had against him tonight, most of them ended up in the corner with him hitting the guy. Itap just that extra presence that we have on the back end. He’s been playing really well.”
Don’t expect MacDermid to fill the stat sheet every night. He’s now up to eight goals in his NHL career. MacDermid’s job is bringing a hard-nosed approach to the defense.
“I try to get better every day and make sure when I’m in there that I’m doing my job,” MacDermid said. “Helping the team in any way I can.”
Lehkonen update. New Avs forward Artturi Lehkonen, recently acquired from Montreal, traveled with the team to Minnesota. But Lehknonen’s playing status remains uncertain while his immigration status is being updated.
“He’s not going to be able to cross over into Canada unless he gets his papers,” Bednar told reporters on Saturday. “We’re still hoping for today or tomorrow. Apparently, we can get it on weekends. Thatap the plan.”
Lehkonen is practicing with the Avalanche until being cleared to play. The coaching staff has already taken steps toward identifying his role in the lineup.
“We’ve got a pretty good idea,” Bednar said. “Just from watching all of his videos, guys he’s played with before, the jobs he’s done and what he feels comfortable doing. For certain, we’ll have to watch him in the games. Thatap whatap going to tell the tale of how our lineup shakes out.”
