This game, which marked the last game in a five-game road trip for the Colorado Avalanche, could have gone either way against the Philadelphia Flyers, as the Avalanche had two wins and two losses leading up to it. As the NHL commentators said, “The Avalanche bought their A game today.” The Avalanche were up at the end of the first period and that became the standard for the remaining two periods. Two lines performed outstandingly today — the top line, as you expect, and the third line, fast becoming a productive line. Three players were on hat trick watch, Nathan MacKinnon, Logan O’Connor and Mikko Rantanen. They were today’s main goal scorers. With the convincing win of 7–4, the Colorado Avalanche came away with three wins and two losses on this road trip. A pretty good outcome for a still depleted team.
Takeaways
— Today was Alexandar Georgiev’s 38th start this season. When they needed him, Alexandar Georgiev stood up tall and made some key saves. Kevin Weekes from the NHL commentary team mentioned how straight and tall Georgiev was playing and how that makes a difference. He has become the backbone of this team. It is now time to find him a strong backup.
This just about sums things up concerning Alexandar Georgiev and the goaltending situation in Colorado.
Good stuff @EzraParter! Well put. #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/tFDloaYPpS
— Adrian Hernandez (@AdoHernandez27) January 19, 2024
— The Avalanches third line is proving to be a dynamic trio. Ross Colton, Miles Wood and Logan O’Connor have a chemistry that has shown through during several games to provide depth scoring. This line is tenacious, fast and difficult for opposition teams to play against. Today O’Connor scored his first career hat trick after a very unselfish pass from MacKinnon, who was also on a hat trick watch.
Today’s tally from the third line was – Logan O’Connor (three goals), Ross Colton (three assists) and Miles Wood (two assists).
Remember when people made that absolute nonsense about Nathan MacKinnon being a bad teammate because he's dedicated? Show them that clip of him setting up LOC for his 1st career hat trick. About as unselfish as it gets. That's a teammate right there #GoAvsGo
— Dude Where's Makar (@joelthesakic) January 20, 2024
“He deserves it.” Nate on passing to Logan for the final goal of the game. #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/zak1fyWgHW
— AltitudeTV (@AltitudeTV) January 20, 2024
The stats for today’s game show that the opposing team beat the Avalanche on the ice. They had 25 shots on goal to the Flyers 40. The Avalanche won only 36% of the faceoffs, took two more penalty minutes, but had 16 hits to 14 and more importantly blocked 28 shots to the Flyers 12. I used to say that the team that won the faceoffs won the game, that is not proving valid this season. The Avalanche’s scoring ability putting seven shots out of 25 through the net showed that ultimately that counts.
Conclusion
After suffering a terrible loss on Thursday night, the Avalanche came to play today. It wasn’t an entirely straightforward game with the Flyers team showing their determination to come back in the third period, when the Avalanche’s defense looked tired and beaten. It was MacKinnon that stood up and kept the team moving forward to seal the win. Colorado will finally be back at home on Wednesday against the Washington Capitals to start a brief home stand.