Alexandar the Great

It was a Thursday night in Our Nation's Capital, and the Colorado Avalanche headed there after getting a big road win over the Flyers in Philadelphia. This was the second game of the road trip, and with this meeting, the season series was over already. The first meeting was at Ball Arena, and that was the game where the Avalanche's top players returned to the team for the first time, but even so, the Avalanche were not victorious in what was the last game of a four game homestand.

There were a pair of big differences between this outing and the first meeting. For one, no Alex Ovechkin. A terrible leg injury in Washington's game against Utah has now sidelined Ovechkin for 4-6 weeks, putting a speed bump on his quest to surpass Gretzky's goal total. The second big difference was in the Avalanche's net: Alexandar Georgiev. On the day that we received our reinforcements, we also received the news that Georgie would be out for a bit. He only ended up missing two games, and in this meeting in DC, Georgie was back in net against Logan Thompson.

Period #1 was quiet for the most part; each team had one power play, and both were killed off. It did look like the period would end scoreless, but the Caps would strike first, and it was Pierre-Luc Dubois with the opener very late in the frame. 1-0 was the score in Washinton's favor following the first 20 minutes, and there was pressing from both teams. Connor McMichael--who scored twice in the first meeting--was looking for one in this go-around, but would be denied. Even worse for McMichael, he committed a penalty. Avs went back on the power play, and the game is tied. Red hot Mikko Rantanen evens it, and the only assist came from Jonathan Drouin.

After 40 minutes, it was 1-1, and it was early in Period #3 that the Avs struck and took the lead. Miles Wood made it 2-1 with the assists coming from Cale Makar and Parker Kelly. There was more pressing from the Avalanche, until Thompson was pulled for the extra attacker. The Capitals really worked to tie this game, but Georgiev pulled off all stops getting the stops. Even so, Washington pressed and pressed and pressed, but in the end, the door was shut, and the Avalanche held on.

Now, can we please stop pretending that Alexandar Georgiev is the second coming of Mike Smith or something? 28 saves, and got the key saves when six Capitals were attempting to tie the game. We see this from Georgie on a constant basis. The man clearly learned from Igor Shesterkin for sure. This was a nice and ugly win for the Avs on the road, and as a result, we are two-for-two in this current road trip. We are 11-9 after an 0-4 start, and we are flirting with the possibility of being above the playoff line by the time we Americans will be dining on turkey and all sorts of good stuff. I recently learned that being above the playoff line on Turkey Day usually leads to good things for those teams.

The Avalanche will head to the Sunshine State for the next two games. First, on Saturday, the Avs will be in Sunrise against the reigning, defending, undisputed Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers. After that, the road trip concludes on Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena--the very place where we won our third Stanley Cup two years ago.

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