Avalanche Penalty Kill Seeing Group Effort

The Colorado Avalanche owns the best penalty kill in the league and continued its success with the man disadvantage against the Minnesota Wild, though the team's streak of successful kills eventually came to an end.
Colorado killed 2-of-3 penalties on Tuesday and held off Minnesota to win 2-1 at Ball Arena. The Avs had eradicated the first two Wild power plays of the night before Kirill Kaprizov scored with the extra man at 13:05 of the second period.
It was the first man-advantage goal the Avalanche had given up this season on home ice after going a perfect 17-for-17 to that point and ended a run of 24-straight kills dating back to the club's Jan. 21 outing at the Los Angeles Kings. The Avs remain the best penalty-kill unit in the league at 89.7 percent, going 35-for-39 on the man disadvantage this season.

Colorado's current rash of injuries has six players out of lineup, which includes four that are regulars on the team's penalty kill. Head coach Jared Bednar has turned to younger players like defensemen Cale Makar and Samuel Girard to fill those roles in the meantime and sees a benefit for them that can carry over to their performance on the power play.
"They're using their skills in the right areas to help get pucks down, using their legs," Bednar said after morning skate on Tuesday. "They're intelligent players and they all play the power play, so they understand what the power play is trying to accomplish and where [the opposition is] trying to get the puck, and it's making them great penalty killers. You know it's great, the more guys we have that can kill penalties and make sure we're winning the two-minute game, the better."
Makar finished Tuesday's contest with 26:23 of ice time--his second most of season after skating in a career-high 28:09 on Sunday in Minnesota--which also featured a total of 4:29 on the power play and 3:46 on the penalty kill, the latter of which was the second-most on the team.
"I enjoy playing PK. If I can chip in, I will gladly do it whenever I'm needed," Makar said. "Obviously all of us on the backend are capable of doing it, but I'll try and do my best when I'm out there--everybody's power play is different but being on the PK definitely allows you to see those open seams that you might not see just being on the power [play]."
Another trusted PKer for Bednar this season has been Tyson Jost. The forward was given the opportunity at the end of last season and in the playoffs, and he's taken advantage of the situation and produced one of his best games of the year in the home outing versus the Wild.
"He was one of our leading penalty killers at the end of last year, he is one of the leaders this year on a great penalty kill," Bednar said. "He's improved on his faceoffs, defending, especially in D-zone coverage. He is way more effective, he's quicker in areas and harder on pucks, more competitive as a whole. He's putting the work before the skill, and he's earning more ice."
Jost finished with 17:11 on Tuesday and saw 2:24 of ice time on the PK, second-most among forwards behind Valeri Nichushkin (2:36) who was on the same unit.
"It's not something that I worked on in the offseason or did anything different, I think it's just getting an opportunity and getting better each and every game," Jost said. "Good experience, you obviously get better too, and I like where [our PK is] at, I like where our team is at right now."
As for the lone power-play goal against by Kaprizov, that came after J.T. Compher was assessed an extra two-minute unsportsmanlike penalty for fighting Minnesota's Kyle Rau at 11:38 of the second period. Compher was standing up for a teammate as Rau was part of a Wild duo that had just ran Makar into the boards moments earlier.
Bednar said he's still unsure why Compher got the extra penalty, but he was fine with Compher's actions at the time to support his teammate.
Said Makar: "I really appreciate that when teammates do that, but I think I said that before, I shouldn't put myself in that position. Obviously I don't want guys to have to stand up for myself. I appreciate what Comph did. At the end of the day, we should have got the kill for him, but I think it will be a really good game the next one."

DRIES, FOURTH LINE IMPRESSES

Forward Sheldon Dries made his season debut for the Avalanche, centering the fourth line with Logan O'Connor and Kiefer Sherwood. It is a fairly new combo for Colorado, as Sherwood debuted with the team last Tuesday while O'Connor skated in his first game of the season on Saturday.
"It's a cliché, but you got to keep it simple," Dries said pregame. "You can't complicate the game. Playing with O.C. and Sherwood tonight, obviously two guys that can move and obviously keep up and grind in the corners. That is what the fourth line is meant to do."
Bednar liked what he saw from the trio, which opened the game's scoring with O'Connor's second goal of the season with 2:45 left in the first period.
"I thought the bottom-six guys did a great job--O'Connor, Sherwood, Dries, played hard, simple effective, tough to play against," Bednar said. "They get us a goal, they draw us another penalty."
Dries has appeared in 46 career NHL games with the Avalanche over the past three seasons, recording three goals and three assists. He spent most of last season with the American Hockey League's Colorado Eagles where he produced 35 points (21 goals, 14 assists) in 50 contests before joining the Avs in the playoff bubble in Edmonton, Alberta.

ALL WEEK-TO-WEEK

Nathan MacKinnon missed his first game of the season with a lower-body injury after not playing in the third period of Colorado's contest on Sunday in Minnesota.
MacKinnon, who leads the team with 14 points and 12 assists, is listed as week-to-week and was replaced on the top line by J.T. Compher for the outing. He is on the team's injured list with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (lower body), Matt Calvert (upper body), Pavel Francouz (lower body), Erik Johnson (upper body) and Devon Toews (lower body)--all of whom are also week-to-week.
Head coach Jared Bednar said he'll give updates early every week on his injured players, all of which will also miss Thursday's contest versus the Wild and are doubtful to play in this weekend's back-to-back set at the St. Louis Blues.

MORE NOTES

The Avalanche is now 2-0-1 against Minnesota this season with the final game of this current four-game series against the Wild set for Thursday. The Avs have earned points in a season-best five straight contests (4-0-1).
Cale Makar extended his point streak to five games, equaling his career best (Oct. 3-14, 2019). He has tallied seven points (one goal, six assists) in that span and now has 12 points (one goal, 11 assists) this season, ranking third among NHL defensemen.
Joonas Donskoi had an assist to extend his point streak to five games, matching his career long (Jan. 16-24, 2016).
Tyson Jost recorded a career-best 10 faceoff wins, surpassing his previous high of nine on April 4, 2017 vs. Chicago.
Philipp Grubauer made 27 saves to pick up his league-leading seventh win of the season. Grubauer has a .934 save percentage and a 1.67 goals-against average so far in 2020-21, ranking sixth and third, respectively, in the NHL.
Valeri Nichushkin scored his second game-winning goal of the season--one shy of his career best set last year--and is tied with Gabriel Landeskog for first on the team in game-winners in 2020-21.
Logan O'Connor has scored two goals in three games, while Kiefer Sherwood has registered two assists in four contests.
The Avs don't mind six more weeks of winter. They are now 8-3-1 all-time on Groundhog Day.