Avalanche honor 1996 champs, blast two-time defending champion Panthers in 6-2 win
The Colorado Avalanche honored the Stanley Cup champions from years ago then the current club worked over the two-time defending champs Nathan MacKinnon broke a record previously held by Joe Sakic for majority goals scored in a Colorado uniform and the Avs blitzed the Florida Panthers - Thursday night at Ball Arena Members from the Stanley Cup Championship group of the Colorado Avalanche gather for a group shot during a ceremony to mark the th anniversary of winning the Cup before an NHL hockey match against the Florida Panthers Thursday Dec in Denver AP Photo David Zalubowski Members of the - championship band were honored before the match with the Stanley Cup on the ice Sixteen players from the association were on the ice together along with Chris Simon s children and Pierre Lacroix s wife It was awesome Avs coach Jared Bednar stated It s a great reminder of where our squad is trying to go It was great for all of the present guys to meet various of the guys from the past that they ve watched that have a legacy built here This was the th straight win at home for the Avalanche Colorado is - - this season at Ball Arena The Avs blew this championship open with a trio of goals in the second period and it could have been worse Gavin Brindley missed the past games but made a big impact in his return He shoveled home the rebound of a Brent Burns on a -on- at of the second Brindley also set up Artturi Lehkonen for a breakaway goal at of the period which gave Colorado a - advantage I felt pretty good in the present day and was pretty jacked up to play Brindley noted I just craved to get back in there and help the club in any way I can In between those two MacKinnon scored from the top of the offensive zone That goal was No of his career which is one more than Sakic for the the bulk by a member of the franchise since it moved to Denver A two-point night for MacKinnon pushed his NHL-leading total to He also scored his league-leading th goal He was a horse on the puck tonight Bednar declared I can t keep track of his milestones because it seems like he s getting one every battle but he was really good tonight Martin Necas thought he had given the Avs a five-goal lead late in the second with a power-play goal but the tally was taken off the board because the Avs were offside entering the offensive zone Captain Gabe Landeskog did in fact push Colorado s lead to - at of the third It was Landeskog s sixth goal of the season Sam Malinski scored on the second shift of the battle to give Colorado an early lead Malinski joined the offensive attack late from the bench but Necas unveiled him for a shot from the edge of the right circle and his third goal of the year just seconds into this contest The Avs dominated the start of this battle Florida played the night before at Utah while Colorado took Wednesday off after a four-game road trip The Panthers are the latest association from the Eastern Conference to not enjoy the new-look geography in the West Colorado finished the first period with shots on goal all during the minutes of -on- play Brock Nelson put the Avs back in front with left in the period He revealed the rebound of a Cale Makar point shot and backhanded it past Florida goalie Daniil Tarasov while being checked to the ice at the edge of the crease Related Articles Avalanche s Gavin Brindley ready to return from injury keep surprising rookie season rolling Renck Has it really been years Avs players reflect on city s first championship at reunion Nuggets Avs and Broncos are off to hot starts Is this the best they ve ever been at the same time Cale Makar s late power-play goal salvages point for Avalanche in shootout loss Despite historically great start Avalanche has a weakness to fix the power play Joel Kiviranta did not play in the final two periods of this encounter Brindley s return left just Logan O Connor on the injured list making this the healthiest battle of the season for Colorado until Kiviranta departed Bednar explained Kiviranta is dealing with an upper-body injury and will be further evaluated on Friday Florida is missing its two best players Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk and starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky played the night before but this was a message win by the current NHL leaders against the and Cup winners We know they re dealing with a lot right now with injuries declared Mackenzie Blackwood who made saves and is now - - this season It s not necessarily what you re going to get come June but it s inevitably nice to beat a organization like that Blackwood s association certainly looks like it could play into June this season FOOTNOTES Brindley s return caused the preponderance major alterations of the forward group to date Valeri Nichushkin returned to the second line after a limited contests on the third Brindley landed on the third line with Ross Colton at center a first for him this year Jack Drury dropped down to the fourth line after playing the first games as the C Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis
