2023-11-26 05:54:00
DENVER – Jonathan Drouin scored his third goal of the season and the Colorado Avalanche cruised to a 3-1 victory once morest the Calgary Flames on Saturday night at Ball Arena in Denver.
The Avalanche thus signs a third victory in a row, in addition to having triumphed six times in their last seven outings. Colorado sits alone atop the Central Division with its record of 14-6-0, two points ahead of the Winnipeg Jets.
For their part, the Flames were unable to sign a second victory in a row, 24 hours following their superb comeback in a 7-4 victory once morest the Predators.
After a slow start to the season marked by a meager one point in 10 games, Drouin is having better times with five points in his last eight games. He notably has three points in his last three games.
Nathan MacKinnon also scored in the Avalanche victory, in addition to contributing to Drouin’s goal with an assist. Ryan Johansen scored the Avalanche’s other goal, while the Flames’ only goal was the work of Mikael Backlund.
Ivan Prosvetov had a good outing in front of the Avalanche cage, stopping 29 of 30 shots aimed at him to get his second victory of the season. At the other end of the ice, Dan Vladar allowed three goals on 24 shots.
Drouin took advantage of a great play prepared by MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen to open the scoring midway through the first period. MacKinnon first made a nice zone entry, before putting the puck back for Rantanen. The Finn then left the disc behind for Drouin, who scored with a good wrist shot following some nice moves.
The Avalanche came back to the attack in the middle of the middle period thanks to Johansen, while Drouin was also on the ice. Johansen first blocked a weak clearing from Nikita Zadorov at the blue line and then attacked the enemy territory. Johansen deceived Vladar’s vigilance by quickly rounding the net to score his seventh goal of the campaign.
Calgary gave a sign of life a few minutes later thanks to a magnificent play from Jonathan Huberdeau. In possession of the puck from the slot, the Quebecer completed a pass by turning towards Backlund, who completed in an empty cage.
To the great misfortune of the Flames, the Avalanche only took 34 seconds before responding and regaining a two-goal lead. Entering the zone, MacKinnon took advantage of a lot of time to shoot a wrist shot that escaped Vladar.
Prosvetov closed the door on all Flames attacks in the third period, as they fired 15 shots on goal.
The Avalanche will return to action once morest the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday, while the Flames begin a six-game home stretch once morest the Vegas Golden Knights also on Monday.
Sharks surprise Canucks
For only the second time this season, the San Jose Sharks scored at least four goals in a game and surprised the Vancouver Canucks in a 4-3 victory.
This is only the fourth win in 21 games this season for the Sharks, all wins at home.
Mikael Granlund notably stood out with a spectacular goal in the third period, which gave the Sharks the lead once more for good. Ty Emberson scored the first goal of his NHL career and Fabian Zetterlund also scored. The Sharks’ final goal was credited to Mike Hoffman, following defenseman Ian Cole pushed the puck into his own net.
For Hoffman, it was a goal in a third straight game. He has now scored six goals in his last six games, following going scoreless in his first 14 games.
Defenseman Quinn Hughes once more contributed offensively to the Canucks with an assist, extending his streak of games with at least one point to 11.
Brock Boeser scored two goals, JT Miller had three assists and the other Canucks goal was scored by Filip Hronek.
The Canucks thought they had opened the scoring in the opening minutes of the game when Sam Lafferty redirected a pass from Ilya Mikheyev into the back of the net. San Jose, however, won a challenge and the goal was disallowed because Lafferty had created an obstruction on goalkeeper Kaapo Kahkonen.
The Sharks took advantage of this situation to take control of the match a few minutes later. Emberson fired a powerful one-timer from the blue line to put the Sharks ahead.
San Jose gave the Canucks a power play late in the opening period and Vancouver made sure to make them pay the price. Hronek fired a powerful slap shot off a pass from JT Miller and allowed the Canucks to tie the game 1-1.
The two teams then traded goals late in the middle period to make it 2-2. Zetterlund first put the Sharks back in front with a one-timer from the top of the slot, but Boeser brought everyone back to square one with 21 seconds left.
Against all odds, the Sharks quickly took a two-goal lead in the third period. Granlund first scored a spectacular goal on a rush from end to end, then San Jose took advantage of a monumental blunder by Cole, who scored in his own net to make it 4-2.
Boeser gave the Canucks some hope by closing the gap to 4-3 late in the game, but the Canucks were unable to get the better of Kahkonen to tie the game.
The Sharks goaltender finished the game with 31 saves, while Canucks goaltender Casey DeSmith allowed four goals on 22 shots.
Ingram scores a shutout once morest Vegas
Connor Ingram made 34 saves for his first shutout of the season and second of his career as the Arizona Coyotes defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 2-0 on Saturday.
Clayton Keller scored the first goal of the game with 9:22 remaining in the third period.
Lawson Crouse added a net in an empty cage. It was his 10th goal of the season – his 10th in November – and his fifth in his last six games.
Ingram’s first NHL shutout came on February 15 once morest the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Logan Thompson stopped 16 pucks for the Golden Knights, who were shut out for the third time in six games. They were shut out just twice last season before winning the Stanley Cup.
The Coyotes ended a three-game losing streak.
It was the only road game during an eight-game stretch for the Arizona team. In contrast, the Golden Knights played their only game in front of their games in the middle of a series of nine consecutive games.
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