DENVER — Ryan Johansen scored twice, Alexandar Georgiev made 37 saves and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 on Monday evening for his or her fourth straight win.
Cale Makar added a purpose and an help, whereas Valeri Nichushkin sealed the win with an empty-net rating. Makar now has 20 assists in November, transferring the Avalanche defenseman one away from matching probably the most in a month in franchise historical past. Peter Stastny holds the mark with 21 assists in October 1983.
“From my point of view, I still think I can do a lot more,” Makar mentioned. “A lot of effort by the other guys and I’m just kind of dishing it up.”
Nathan MacKinnon suited up regardless of being beneath the climate and lacking the morning skate. He recorded two assists to develop into the third participant in Colorado/Quebec historical past to notch not less than a degree in every of the opening 10 house video games to start out the season.
“I liked our game,” mentioned Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, whose crew has gained seven of eight. “For the most part, I felt like we were checking and doing the right things and playing hard.”
Anthony Cirelli scored for the Lightning. They had a purpose from Michael Eyssimont negated within the second interval when the Avalanche challenged the play for offside.
PHOTOS: Johansen scores twice, Avalanche beat Lightning 4-1 for 4th straight win
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 19 of twenty-two photographs in his second sport again. He missed the beginning of the season after present process microdiscectomy for a lumbar disc herniation. The Lightning plan to fastidiously handle the workload of the 2018-19 Vezina Trophy winner.
Cirelli minimize right into a 3-0 deficit on a breakaway purpose with 30 seconds remaining within the second interval.
From there, Georgiev shut the door. He got here up clutch early, too, stopping 13 photographs within the first interval. That included a breakaway likelihood by Nikita Kucherov, the NHL’s second star of the week.
“We didn’t have it tonight and that rarely happens,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper mentioned. “The harder they tried, the worse it got. It was just one of those tough nights for us.”
Johansen acquired the Avalanche offense going with a purpose within the first interval when he took benefit of a slip by Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman. Johansen added one other within the second when he knocked house a rebound.
“That was like slow motion,” Johansen mentioned of his second purpose. “It just kind of popped out there, and no one seemed to know where it was but me. I’m just happy I didn’t mess it up.”
A vital play within the sport was a problem of Eyssimont’s purpose. On replay, it was dominated that defenseman Nick Perbix was within the zone a break up second earlier than the puck.
“Obviously that’s a really good team over there, but any team in this league, you give them three, it’s hard to climb out of,” Cirelli mentioned.
The short-handed Avalanche stay with out ahead Artturi Lehkonen (higher physique) and defenseman Samuel Girard (entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program). They dodged one other potential scary damage with defenseman Josh Manson, who appeared to catch a skate close to his chin whereas down on the ice. He later had a bandage on his face.
The Avalanche and Lightning will meet yet another time on Feb. 15 at Tampa Bay, the place Colorado clinched its 2022 Stanley Cup title in six video games over the Lightning.
UP NEXT
Lightning: Finish a three-game journey Tuesday in Arizona.
Avalanche: At Arizona on Thursday to start out a three-game street swing.
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