Good and bad: Samuel Girard breaks through in OT, lifting Avalanche over Nashville

DENVER – Samuel Girard has two overtime goals in his career, both coming against the Nashville Predators, the team that traded him to the Avalanche seven years ago.

Girard took the puck away from Brady Skjei in the Avs zone after Skjei lost his footing and came into the play alone before firing a wrister past Juuse Saros for his first goal of the season, lifting the Avs to a 3-2 OT -Victory led.

Devon Toews also had his first record of the season for the Avs, who improved to 8-8-0 this season and 3-1-0 in their last four games.

“That’s been a strength of our team for years, the commitment of our D on the offensive side,” said head coach Jared Bednar.

Toews’ tally came early in the second period when Nashville led 1-0. Girard also assisted on that goal.

The Avs trailed 1-0 after a difficult first period before taking a 2-1 lead in the third period. They conceded the game-winning goal 59 seconds into the final period before battling through the remainder of regulation time and ultimately into overtime.

The team seems to have found its footing in the last four games. It coincides with the return of Artturi Lehkonen, but the Finnish striker didn’t do much against Nashville. He had one shot and four giveaways in 24:31.

What else has changed?

“We are more competitive than we were at the beginning of the year,” Bednar said. “We’re figuring out exactly what this team needs to do and how we need to play to have success with this current lineup.”

Good: Alexandar Georgiev

The Avalanche goaltender deserves praise for another strong performance. Although the team in front of him started slowly for the third game in a row, Alexandar Georgiev coped and kept the game within reach. Even after Nashville scored early.

Colorado was outscored 12-6 in the first half but came out strong in the second half. They had the dominant transition from the top line, which came after the game-winning goal and before Rantanen’s go-ahead shot. But after the second Avs goal, Nashville took the lead again. Georgiev stopped all 13 shots he faced at midfield and had Colorado playing with a lead early in the third period.

Roman Josi finally set up a nice goal for Colton Sissons at the start of the third period to equalize. But in the final minutes of regular time, Georgiev pulled off a huge, game-saving desperation save.

Georgiev has started three straight games after playing just once in more than two weeks.

“I know I’m a good goalie, so I just try to do my best and give us a chance to win every night,” he said.

Good: The dominant change

Gustav Nyquist was on the ice for 1:41 minutes while Nathan MacKinnon, Rantanen and Lehkonen alternated dominance. It started with MacKinnon hitting the post from close range. Then another shot from Cale Makar was blocked by defender Jeremy Lauzon before Rantanen had a chance of his own.

It was the kind of layer you can build on. And a few minutes later, Rantanen scored his fifth goal in four games after a one-time shot from Joel Kiviranta.

MacKinnon also assisted on Rantanen’s goal.

Nathan MacKinnon extends his early season home points streak to 10 games.

He also became the first player to reach 30 points this season, doing so in 15.5 games

– Aarif Deen (@runwriteAarif) November 12, 2024

Good: Samuel Girard

Girard is quietly posting better offensive numbers than in previous years. He has one goal and nine points in 16 games – two of them against the Preds. Since returning from his NHLPA Player Assistant Program last year, Girard has consistently been one of Colorado’s most reliable skaters. He has continued that trend into the start of 2024-25 and is being rewarded for it.

Girard’s OT tally came on his first shot of the game. But he also finished with three blocks, a hit and a +2 rating in ice time at 7 p.m.

Bad: Letting Nashville hang around

The Predators are (surprisingly) the worst team in the Western Conference. They have only managed five wins in their first 16 games, one of which was against the Avs. And had it not been for Georgiev’s late save and Girard’s heroics, they would have been well on their way to another victory.

In the first meeting between the two clubs, Nashville achieved a 5-2 home win. And in Monday’s rematch, the Avs allowed the Preds to dominate early and then completely take the lead after the Rantanen goal.

Colton Sissons has two goals and zero assists in 15 games. Both of his goals came against the Avs. And Juuso Saros played two of his best games against Colorado this year.

The third of four meetings between the two teams will take place on December 14th.