Kiviranta Scores Twice on Georgiev to Lift Avalanche Over San Jose

The battle of Alexandar Georgiev v.s. Mackenzie Blackwood ended up being the Joel Kiviranta show.

Kiviranta scored twice on his former teammate to lift the Avalanche to a 4-2 victory on Thursday. Georgiev made 27 saves in the losing effort, but he again gave up four goals for the ninth time in 21 starts this season. Colorado’s other goals came from Valeri Nichushkin and Mikko Rantanen — both on the power play.

At the other end, Blackwood made 32 saves against his former team to improve to 2-1-0 in three games with the Avs. Blackwood has stopped 91-of-97 shots since the trade and has let in just two goals in each of his three starts. It’s been a night and day difference with him and Scott Wedgewood manning the crease for Jared Bednar’s club.

The Avs got the scoring started on their first shot of the game. They drew a penalty and quickly erased the PP woes with a net-front goal from Nichushkin. Yes, Georgiev let in a goal on the first shot he faced.

Colorado continued to press after the power play but the early dominance quickly shifted the other way. The Sharks controlled the later stages of the first period and took control in the second. They scored twice in 5:03 in the middle frame to tie the game then take the lead. On each goal, a turnover involving Nathan MacKinnon led to a puck getting past Blackwood. The Avs’ sloppy second period was easily one to forget.

San Jose is a young, talented team. But with that comes inexperience and a struggle to close out games late. That was again the case for head coach Ryan Warsofsky’s team. San Jose looked flat in the third and despite getting three power-play opportunities, they were outscored by three to let the game slip away.

First, Rantanen scored on the one-timer. He received a circle-to-circle pass from MacKinnon and wired it past Georgiev. It was a vintage PP goal between the Avs’ two star forwards.

Then the Kiviranta show began.

The Finnish forward got his first goal with 6:53 remaining in regulation, putting the Avalanche ahead with what eventually ended up as the game-winner. Kiviranta led a 3-on-2 attack for the Avs and elected to shoot. He beat Georgiev for his sixth of the season.

His second goal came less than three minutes later. Kiviranta scored on a one-timer off a feed from Artturi Lehkonen.

Good: Special Teams finally favor the Avs

It feels like forever since the Avalanche have had a victory in the special teams department. The power play had just three goals in 10 games entering Thursday before scoring twice. And the penalty kill was a perfect 5-for-5.

At times, specifically in the second period, you started to see more of the reasons why the PP had stagnated in recent weeks. Colorado was getting cute with the puck at times, overpassing, and not making the simple play. But they righted the ship with the late Rantanen tally after the early goal from Nichushkin. It wasn’t perfect, but anytime you’re 2-for-4 on the PP, you’re doing something right.

The PK was far more impressive, especially in the third. In a matter of seven minutes, Colorado took three penalties but killed off every single one. Sandwiched in between those three penalties was the Rantanen PP goal. Directly after the third penalty came Kiviranta’s go-ahead tally. That’s the type of special teams victory this team needed. Let’s see if they can carry it into Friday.

Bad: Unnecessary Turnovers

Both San Jose goals were the result of unnecessary sloppy turnovers. On their first, MacKinnon forced a pass into the slot that landed perfectly on the tape of a San Jose player. The rush went the other way and the goal quickly followed.

The second goal saw Lehkonen pick up a rebound after a save from Blackwood. He wanted to pitch it up to MacKinnon to start the rush but MacKinnon started galloping up the ice before the puck was on his stick. Instead, San Jose regained control. MacKinnon quickly stopped to retreat to defense but it was too late.

Both plays were sloppy, unnecessary, and the type of plays that have burned this team so many times this year.