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Avalanche and the Halifax Hookup win in OT over Penguins

  
Halifax Hookup
Jonathan Drouin works around Kris Letang of the Penguins in overtime right before he scores the game winning goal. (Photo courtesy of Colorado Avalanche)

Where do we start for the Colorado Avalanche against the Pittsburgh Penguins? There were such lows for the Avalanche that the game was looking grim from the start. Then, Colorado woke up and took off once the second half of the game started. We all knew that the battle between Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon was going to be intense, but this was insane! But it was the Halifax Hookup between MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin that won the day. Between the two of them, they had six points and led the charge for five unanswered goals. Here are the takeaways from the 5–4 overtime win over Pittsburgh.

Takeaways

— At the beginning of the game, the defense seemed sloppy in all aspects of the Avalanche. Mostly down low in the defensive zone, Colorado’s defensemen were not moving their feet. They had trouble pushing the Penguins out past the faceoff dots as well, allowing more scoring chances in the high danger areas. But, it took Sean Walker to wake the Avalanche scoring up with just under four minutes left in the second period.

— It never gets old talking about Nathan MacKinnon. After his pal Crosby scored four points, MacKinnon decided it was his turn. MacKinnon took part in three out of the five goals scored today, ending the day with 122 points for the season. He now owns the single season Avalanche record for points, breaking Joe Sakic’s record of 120 points. The Halifax native also extended his point streak to 18 games and his home point streak to 34 games.

— Jonathan Drouin has been a dream come true. The Avalanche grabbed him on a team friendly deal over the summer of $825,000 because he wanted to play with MacKinnon again. The two have been inseparable ever since Drouin showed up before camp. Putting up a goal and two assists today, he now has 46 points on the season, numbers he hasn’t seen since 2018-19. The Halifax Hookup has a connection that links back to their junior hockey days and he has been a joy to watch in Denver.

Conclusion

The Avalanche showed some true grit today with their comeback win. It was only the third time that Colorado has ever come back from a four-goal deficit and won (March 3, 1999 & Oct. 16, 2007). They now have a nine-game winning streak and have not lost a game since the trade deadline. We could be witnessing something special. The players seem to think so as well. Only time will tell if this is right. The Avalanche will be back at it on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens at Ball Arena.

https://youtu.be/5eyzsVLrRTg?si=F0EGgkHMQ6WfZv0H

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