Homestand Part III: Close Call

So far, the Colorado Avalanche are two-for-two in this long homestand that will dominate the month of January. A blowout win over the Ottawa Senators, and then, a shutout win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. On Monday, we played host to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who desperately needed something. It had been a long season for the team, who find themselves in danger of their long playoff streak coming to an abrupt end.

Trent Miner (coming off his first career shutout) was in net against Joseph Woll. The game was quiet, but Easton Cowan livened it up. An unassisted goal makes it 1-0 for the Leafs during the middle of the frame. Almost five minutes later, Cale Makar ties it up, with Martin Necas and Nathan MacKinnon assisting. Avs later had a power play, and we scored on it, and it was the red-hot Brock Nelson with the goal. MacKinnon and Makar assisted, and after 20 minutes, the Avs had a 2-1 lead.

In the second period, the Leafs tied it up early, and it was Bobby McMann, also unassisted. That was the only marker of the middle frame, as their power play in the 2nd was killed off. 2-2 was the score after 40 minutes, and the Leafs got the lead back early in the 3rd period. Of course, it was Auston Matthews, his 22nd of the season, and this one was assisted: William Nylander and Oliver Ekman-Larsson with the helpers. Just over two minutes later, Martin Necas tied it up, and MacKinnon had the lone assist, his third of the game. Avs had a late power play, but it was killed off, and we had overtime.

So the home point streak this season still lives, but now it was time to try to add on to our long home winning streak. 17 straight wins at home on the line. So overtime was crazy. I thought we scored. But the horn didn't sound. It looked like went in, and when time passed and no horn of any kind went off, which is a sign that the puck actually hit the crossbar and somehow never crossed. Wow! One puck did get in, though, but not ours. William Nylander's shot went in, and that sealed it.

So the 17-game home winning streak is over. On the flipside, though, the point streak stands. We have still not lost in regulation on home ice this season. MacKinnon added three more points, and the goals came from the usual suspects; a contrast to the win against Columbus where the depth scoring dominated. This was close all the way through, and the Leafs got the win they needed against a strong team. As for the Good Guys, again, it's another point added to our already immense total, and this was a pretty good outing by the boys, who had the Quebec Nordiques throwbacks on. I find it interesting that we had them on for this game; Leafs/Nords wasn't much of a rivalry--especially since the teams were in opposite conferences back then. Yeah, that's true. The Leafs were in the old Campbell Conference (later renamed the Western Conference), while the Nords were in the Wales Conference (later renamed the Eastern Conference).

Next up in the homestand: the Nashville Predators on Friday. It is always interesting when the Preds and Avs get together; been that way for about eight years now.

* * *

If you like this story, click the heart and the subscribe button, and feel free to comment below! Tips and pledges would be greatly appreciated, but only if you want to do so!