Valeri Nichushkin made an unusual decision in overtime and the Avalanche overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Canucks 4-3 on Wednesday.
Colorado took advantage of a power play in overtime and a little luck along the way. Nathan MacKinnon’s shot deflected off Nichushkin’s visor to seal the game. With this assist in addition to a goal, MacKinnon, the NHL’s leading scorer, increased his lead to 8 points ahead of Nikita Kucherov at the top of the circuit by virtue of his total of 115.
The Canucks led 3-0 late in the second period when Mikko Rantanen broke the deadlock with 3 seconds left. Coming back from the break, MacKinnon scored on the power play, then Ross Colton tied the game.
After a false start, Alexandar Georgiev didn’t let anything slip and finished the evening with 18 saves.
The Canucks and Avalanche were both on a four-game winning streak before facing each other, but only Colorado was able to extend their winning streak.
In the absence of No. 1 goaltender Thatcher Demko, who will miss a few weeks of activities due to a knee injury, Casey DeSmith took over in front of the Canucks cage. He made 30 saves and was credited with an assist on his team’s third goal.
JT Miller only took 24 seconds before opening the scoring on a deflection. Miller then did all the work for Ilya Mikheyev, who completed for his first goal in 35 games and doubled the lead. Nikita Zadorov scored the other goal in the defeat.
Roman Josi’s passing skills still on display
With two assists, Roman Josi had his 100th career game with more than one assist in a 4-2 win for the Nashville Predators over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.
He is the first player in Preds history to reach this plateau and the fifth among active defenders. Erik Karlsson (130) of the Pittsburgh Penguins is the one who leads this ranking.
Josi, who obtained his 50th assist of the season, collected his two assists in the first period on goals from Gustav Nyquist and Kiefer Sherwood. This is the second time in his career that Josi has been involved in so many goals. In 2021-2022, he had amassed 73.
Nashville put the game out of reach in a span of 22 seconds in the third period as Filip Forsberg scored his 34th in the third and Jason Zucker reached 10 to make it 4-0.
Predators goaltender Juuse Saros lost his third shutout of the season late in the third when he was foiled byr Alex Iafallo at 1:12 p.m. Saros can nevertheless console himself with his second assist of the season on Nyquist’s goal in the first. He is the only one with Jacob Markstrom (5) of the Calgary Flames to have more than one pass to the goalies this year.
Then with 10.2 seconds left in the game, Mason Appleton jumped on a throw return for the Jets’ second goal.
In the loss, goaltender Connor Hellebuyck faced 38 shots in front of the Jets cage.
Binnington comes to the aid of the Blues
Jordan Binnington stopped 40 shots and the St. Louis Blues beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-1.
Alexey Toropchenko, Jake Neighbors and Brandon Saad scored for the Blues, who began a four-game homestand.
Adrian Kempe scored for the Kings and Cam Talbot made 27 saves.
The Blues remain in the fight for the last additional playoff spot in the West.
They are six points behind the Vegas Golden Knights, who have a game in hand.
Taking part in a 700th game in the National League, Kevin Hayes was complicit in Saad’s goal midway through the third period.
