NHL 20 Recap: Avalanche 5, Hurricanes 4 (OT)

Nathan MacKinnon scored 1:47 into overtime to help the Colorado Avalanche defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 on Wednesday in a simulated game of EA Sports' NHL 20.
MacKinnon finished the contest at virtual Pepsi Center with two goals and an assist, as he also opened the game's scoring midway through the first period by feeding the puck to Mikko Rantanen for a one-time tally to extend Colorado's lead to 3-0 at 10:46 of the second stanza. The Avs center's game-winner came when he whacked in a centering pass from Tyson Jost at the far crease during a power play--Carolina's Jaccob Slavin was penalized for tripping Cale Makar 48 seconds into the extra stanza.

Samuel Girard registered the second marker of the outing to help the Avs jump out to an early advantage, but the Hurricanes soon flipped the momentum and tied the game at 3-3 in a matter of 2:56. Brock McGinn scored 24 seconds after Rantanen at 11:10 of the middle frame, and Vincent Trocheck soon tallied twice to even the score heading into the second intermission.
The Avalanche retook the lead early in the third period as Andre Burakovsky buried the puck from the slot off a pass from Vladislav Namestnikov at 5:02, but the Hurricanes' Trevor van Riemsdyk knotted the contest once again midway through the stanza to force OT.
Joining MacKinnon with multi-point efforts for the digital Avs were Samuel Girard (one goal, one assist), Gabriel Landeskog (two assists) and Mikko Rantanen (one goal, one assist). Nazem Kadri also added a helper in the victory
Goaltender Pavel Francouz made his first NHL 20 start in net for the Avalanche and stopped 38 shots, including 19 in the third period. Carolina outshot Colorado 42-34.
The Avs' next virtual matchup is Wednesday when they face the San Jose Sharks in another NHL 20 game simulation.

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