Nathan MacKinnon put together one of his best offensive games of the season, logging two goals and three assists, but his game-saving play came on the defensive side. With Colorado on a late power play, clinging to a one-goal lead, former Avalanche forward Tyson Jost, recently claimed off waivers from Minnesota by the Sabres, seized the puck and raced off ice. Jost seemed to have a breakaway, but as he approached the Colorado net, MacKinnon turned on the jets, reached over his former teammate’s left shoulder and whacked the puck away. He managed not to commit a penalty on the play, and when Buffalo pulled its goalie after the power play expired, Mikko Rantanen scored an empty-net goal to clinch a 6-4 win for Colorado.
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The Colorado win marked a rebound from a lackluster 5-0 loss Tuesday in Winnipeg. MacKinnon led the way, and here are some other Avalanche pluses and minuses from the game.
Plus: People involved in Ryan O’Reilly trades
The Avalanche acquired J.T. Compher when they traded Ryan O’Reilly to Buffalo in 2015, and when the Sabres sent O’Reilly to St. Louis, they acquired Tage Thompson. Compher and Thompson had big nights Thursday.
Compher, who was at the University of Michigan when Buffalo traded him, got the scoring going with a lucky bounce in the first period. His attempted pass to Rantanen ricocheted off a Buffalo stick and into the net. Then, in the second period, he potted a Logan O’Connor rebound for his second goal of the game. He picked up two assists over the course of the night, too, giving him a career-best four-point game. He now has 12 points in 21 games. His .57 points-per-game rate would be a career best, beating his mark of .48 in 2018-19.
Thompson, meanwhile, had a goal and two assists. His tally was a highlight-reel play during which he got Alexandar Georgiev out of his net and finished just before Artturi Lehkonen’s stick could break up his chance.
Tage Thompson does it again. pic.twitter.com/LvgbF8UMex
— The Charging Buffalo (@TheChargingBUF) December 2, 2022
Minus: Taking penalties
Coach Jared Bednar told reporters in Buffalo that he thought the officials didn’t have to make some of the calls they did in a penalty-filled game. That might be true, but giving an opponent seven power plays in a game isn’t a recipe for winning consistently.
Plus (mostly): The penalty kill
Colorado went 5-for-7 on the penalty kill, and though a 71 percent kill rate isn’t good, the mark was a bit misleading Thursday. The Sabres at one point had a full two minutes of five-on-three play, which resulted in a goal and tainted the numbers of an overall solid short-handed effort.
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The Avalanche had two excellent penalty kills in the first period — Artturi Lehkonen in particular was buzzing early, positioning himself well and breaking up passes — before Thompson scored on the third Sabres power play of the frame. Then, in the second, Colorado nearly killed off a Sabres five-on-three following Rantanen and Devon Toews penalties. But a Dylan Cozens laser with 16 seconds left in the two-man advantage ended a strong Colorado effort.
The Avalanche’s fourth line committed two penalties in the third period: a hold by Jayson Megna and a trip by Anton Blidh, but the Avalanche managed to kill both. It was a clutch end to the game for the unit. Toews played 8 minutes short-handed, with Cale Makar taking 6:22 of ice time.
Minus: The defending
The Avalanche allowed four high-danger scoring chances in both the second and third periods, according to Natural Stat Trick, and the Sabres opened the final frame with a set play resulting in a goal. Alex Tuch slipped by every Colorado player, and Rasmus Dahlin passed to him off the end boards. With only Georgiev to beat, Tuch backhanded the puck into the net. Penalties also often stem from poor defense, and as touched on earlier, the Avalanche committed a lot of penalties.
Georgiev was fine but not at his best against the Sabres, and with Colorado’s defensive effort, Buffalo scored four times in the first 41 minutes of the game.
Plus: The power play
Bednar will never complain about a 3-for-6 power-play night. Compher looked comfortable playing with the top unit, and the group scored twice in a 50-second stretch midway through the second period.
Scoring distribution
Forwards
1G (Artturi Lehkonen) – 2G3A (Nathan MacKinnon) – 1G1A (Mikko Rantanen)
1A (Andrew Cogliano) – 2G2A (J.T. Compher) – 1A (Logan O’Connor)
Alex Galchenyuk – Alex Newhook – Jean-Luc Foudy
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Anton Blidh – Jayson Megna – Dryden Hunt
Defense
2A (Devon Toews) – 2A (Cale Makar)
Jacob MacDonald – Erik Johnson
Goaltending
An .857 save percentage (Alexandar Georgiev)
The top line led the way once again, and the Cogliano-Compher-O’Connor trio contributed, too. Though known as a checking line, that second line getting on the scoresheet is a good sign. With Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin and Evan Rodrigues out, Colorado needs others to step up and provide depth scoring. Compher’s line did that against the Sabres.
(Photo: Jeffrey T. Barnes / Associated Press)
