In a shootout, Valeri Nichushkin propels the Avs past the Bruins.
January 9: On Monday night in Denver, the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Boston Bruins 4-3 thanks to goals from Logan O’Connor, Sam Malinski, Mikko Rantanen, and Valeri Nichushkin in the shootout.
Alexandar Georgiev made 24 stops in overtime and three more in the shootout for Colorado, while Nathan MacKinnon had an assist to extend his home point run to 22 games at the start of the season.
For Boston, Jeremy Swayman stopped thirty-three shots, while Brad Marchand scored twice and John Beecher also scored once.
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When MacKinnon and Rantanen failed to produce a goal and the three Bruins shooters were unable to score, Nichushkin sealed the victory for the Avalanche with a wrister under Swayman’s glove.
In the opening frame, Colorado outshot Boston 13-5, but the Bruins had plenty of opportunities. Georgiev stopped a shorthanded breakaway attempt by Jake DeBrusk, and the Bruins took advantage of a power play.
At 11:21 of the first period, Marchand got the puck close to the left circle, skated around, and then Georgiev screened a shot to give Boston the lead.
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Later in the period, on their second power-play opportunity, the Avalanche tied the score. Rantanen was at the top of the crease, and MacKinnon had the ball in the left circle, centered on him. At 16:13, Rantanen dropped to one knee and ducked the pass over Swayman’s left shoulder.
Rantanen scored his 21st goal of the year with it.
When O’Connor stole the puck from Shattenkirk deep in the Bruins’ zone and lifted a shot over Swayman at 2:23 to score his sixth goal of the year, Colorado took the lead early in the second period.
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At 10:05 in the second, Beecher’s fifth goal of the year tied the score when he rushed to knock Danton Heinen’s rebound past Georgiev.
At 17:56 of the second, Malinski, who had been called up from the AHL earlier in the day to take Josh Manson’s (undisclosed) spot on the roster, scored his second goal of the year to give the Avalanche a 3-2 lead.
At 5:46 of the third, Marchand scored his second goal of the game and his 17th of the year, tapping a centering pass from Charlie Coyle to tie the score once more.