Avalanche Game 9 Recap: Back on Track

While the month of October had been kind to the Colorado Avalanche, the last two games hadn't been. The Avs went 6-2 in the season's opening month, but the last two games were shutout losses on the road--in back-to-back games. The Avalanche's November kicked off with a home game against the St. Louis Blues, only their third home game of the season. In addition, this was the first "Division Rivalry" game of the season, which sees the Avs donning their alternate third jerseys for the game.

For the first time all season, Ivan Prosvetov was in net for the Avs, as Alexandar Georgiev started all of the previous eight games for the team, and needed a break. The Blues were in control for most of the period, leading 2-0 in shots and had a power play (which saw no additional shots). Colorado's first shot came with 12 minutes left, and their second shot was the big one: Ross Colton received Miles Wood's pass and put it in past Jordan Binnington, and boy, did we need that! So the goal drought was over, and right after that, the Avs received a power play. On that man advantage, Mikko Rantanen netted his sixth of the season to make it 2-0, and afterwards, Blues coach Craig Berube decided to challenge a clock stoppage, claiming that Ryan Johansen played the puck with a high stick. The ruling stated that there was no high stick, the goal counts, and the Avs received another power play.

The PP got killed off, but it was still 2-0 in Colorado's favor after one period. The 2nd was mostly quiet, but the Avs started to catch up to St. Louis in the shots department. It did look like Colorado would end the second period with (at least) a two goal lead, but late in the second, Robert Thomas ended Prosvetov's shutout bid, scoring 17:49 into the second frame. It remained 2-1 after 40 minutes, but the Avs would make it 3-1 very early in the third. Artturi Lehkonen scored 101 seconds in to the frame, and later on, Bowen Byram scored his second of the season. Down three, the Blues pulled Binnington for the extra attacker, but after Colorado regained the puck, Samuel Girard's shot at the empty net ended up hitting the crossbar and went out of play. That forced Binnington back in the net, and the rest of the clock was killed off. The Avs won, 4-1, over the Blues.

The Avalanche got back on track with this win, coming after back-to-back shutout losses on the road. The true star of this game had to be Ivan Prosvetov, who is the latest in a parade of backups we've seen since Pavel Francouz became sidelined due to injury. Francouz ended up playing a key role in our Stanley Cup run two seasons ago, as he made a number of starts in place of Darcy Kuemper, including starting the entire Western Conference Final against the Edmonton Oilers, and getting a shutout in Game Two. Prosvetov had spent time with the Arizona Coyotes for a few seasons before being acquired by the Avs, and in his first start with us, he had 27 saves and got the win. I dare say he's quite the reliable goaltender.

On a side note, it was nice to see Cale Makar back out there after being on the receiving end of that dirty hit in Buffalo. Makar had two assists, as did Nathan MacKinnon, while Mikko Rantanen had a goal and an assist. The two game skid is over, and next up for Colorado is a trip to Vegas on Saturday to face off against the Golden Knights in a battle between the last two Stanley Cup Champions.

* * *

Thank you for reading my recap! Click the heart if you liked it, click the subscribe button for more of my stories, and feel free to comment below! Tips and pledges would also be appreciated, but only if you want to do so!