Avalanche Top Blue Jackets 5-1 to Complete Sweep of Global Series

Kiitos Suomi! Thanks, Finland!
The Colorado Avalanche completed the 2022 NHL Global Series in Tampere, Finland with a dominant 5-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night at Nokia Arena. Colorado outscored Columbus by a combined total of 11-4 through two games. The Avalanche are now 6-4-1 on the season.

For the Avalanche, Piikkio, Finland native Artturi Lehkonen, Martin Kaut (1G, 1A), Logan O'Connor, Devon Toews (1G, 1A) and Alex Newhook scored. Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar each recorded three assists. Alexandar Georgiev made 31 saves on 32 shots as he made his second-straight start in the back-to-back set against Columbus.
For the Blue Jackets, Bonner Jenner scored a power-play goal. Joonas Korpisalo made 40 saves on 45 shots as he made his season debut after being sidelined due to undergoing offseason hip surgery. Jakub Voracek missed Saturday's game with an upper-body injury and Mathieu Olivier drew in the lineup in his place.

GAME SUMMARY:

The Avalanche executed a dominant effort to close out the Global Series against Columbus. They controlled possession, held an overall 45-32 shot advantage and came out with fast starts in each period to support their full-60 effort in Saturday's win.
Following one period of even play, the Avalanche and Blue Jackets got off to a 1-1 score and Columbus held a 13-12 shot advantage.

Colorado drew the game's icebreaker in a similar fashion as Friday night as they netted the opening strike during the opening minute of play. The Avalanche attacked Columbus' zone with pass from Mikko Rantanen that led to a two-on-one rush with Nathan
MacKinnon and Lehkonen. MacKinnon showcased patience as he strode to the net and dished the puck across the slot to Lehkonen, where the Finnish winger buried the puck at 33 seconds to give the Avs a 1-0 lead.
After failing to convert on the first power play of the game that was awarded to the Avalanche just under five minutes into play, Columbus evened the score at 12:27 with a power-play goal as Samuel Girard went to the box for holding at 11:59.
On the Blue Jackets power play, Jenner tipped in a point shot taken by defenseman Zach Werenski for the 1-1 equalizer.
Colorado poured on the offense in the second period as they took a commanding 4-1 lead and netted three goals in the span of 3:28 and scored two of those goals 38 seconds apart. The dominant second-period effort was also buoyed by a 17-4 shot advantage.

The Avalanche's scoring flurry began just 1:22 into the middle frame as a Makar shot banked off the end boards and was displaced to the netfront where Kaut put a backhander past Korpisalo for his first goal of the season. MacKinnon tallied his second assist of the night on the strike. The Czech winger noted postgame that it was an emotional moment for him to score his first goal at the NHL level since 2020 and it was also the first time that his parents were able to watch him play in an NHL game as they made the trip to Finland.
Buzzing off the momentum, Colorado pushed and capitalized again at 4:12. Evan Rodrigues led the charge as he skated down the wall and towards the net before dropping a pass back to Makar. The Avalanche defenseman wired his shot to the far side of Korpisalo and O'Connor tipped the puck into the net.
Just 38 seconds later, Colorado furthered its lead to 4-1 on an odd-man rush led by MacKinnon. The speedy centerman charged into the slot before slipping a cross-slot pass to the backdoor for Toews to bury at 4:50. The goal marked the defenseman's first of the season.

The Avalanche extended their lead 5-1 early in the third period as Kaut played the puck to Rodrigues who skated into the slot and zipped a pass to the backdoor to Newhook. The 21-year-old winger buried the one timer at 1:36 past Korpisalo as he scored his second goal of the season and second strike in consecutive games.
Colorado locked the game down for the remainder of the third period to hold onto the 5-1 win.

HYVÄSTI JA KIITOS - GOODBYE AND THANK YOU

After spending time in Finland and embracing the culture and playing games in front of a sold-out crowd at Nokia Arena, the unanimous consensus from the Avalanche towards the trip was fond of emotions towards the memories the group made and the experience as a whole.
Makar praised the passion of the Finnish national anthem as well as the spirited chants and claps emitted from the crowd throughout the game to keep tempo up during play. Multiple players expressed their appreciation for the experience, newfound love for saunas and enjoyment in trying traditional Finnish cuisine like salmon soup and reindeer.
All in all, it was a great opportunity to share the NHL on the global stage and help grow the game, while also serving as a special bonding experience for the group.

For Rantanen and Lehkonen in particular, the weekend was once in a lifetime and an incredible experience for the Avalanche's two Finnish skaters.
"You're dreaming maybe that you're going to play in a professional league, but this was really special for Mikko and I," Lehkonen said.
"As a five-year-old you're not really dreaming of playing in the NHL," Rantanen added. "You're thinking maybe of playing in the Finnish league some day. But just do be able to do this [play an NHL game back home in Finland] is really special for [Lehkonen] and I because we grew up together."

NOTEWORTHY:

NEXT GAME:
The Avalanche fly back to Denver on Monday and have a few days without a game to readjust to the time zone before hosting the Nashville Predators on Thursday, Nov. 10 at Ball Arena. The puck drops between the Avs and Preds at 7:00 p.m. MT.