No Nasem Kadri? No Mikko Rantanen? No Cale Makar? No problem! The Avalanche made it seven wins in a row with a gritty 2-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night as the injury woes continued to grow.
Cale Makar was announced as day to day with an upper body injury right before the game, meaning Mark Barberio moved to his familiar position of defense after playing the last game against the Nashville Predators at right wing. Vlad Kamenev came back in as the 12th forward after being a healthy scratch against Nashville.
Another injury is not what the Avalanche need, especially considering it’s another player gone from the top power-play unit. The Avalanche are ranked 20th in Power Play points and considering the offensive talent available has been a major concern in an otherwise positive season. As they get closer to the playoffs they will need to get it going, not helped if players aren’t there to go through the process.
Luckily for the Avalanche, against the worst team in the league and the only one mathematically out of the playoffs, they didn’t need the help.
Detroit opened the scoring 5:48 into the first when Dylan Larkin’s shot was rebounded in by Anthony Mantha, but seven minutes later it was all even again as Vladislav Namestnikov got his first goal as an Avalanche player. Ryan Graves’ shot was too hard to handle for Jonathan Bernier and Namestnikov was on the door step to poke home.
One thing the injury jinx has given the Avalanche is a chance to see what depth they have both in the dressing room and down in Loveland with the AHL Colorado Eagles. The game winning goal came from another of those players as Logan O’Connor latched on to a Gabriel Landeskog pass on a breakaway, firing past Bernier with 14:31 played in the second.
Avalanche sink Ducks
Goalie Michael Hutchinson, a trade deadline deal from the Toronto Maple Leafs, made some big stops in the third period to secure the two points, and his first win, in his first start and on his 30th Birthday.
