PHILADELPHIA — This Colorado Avalanche team hasn’t taken control of a game and felt it slip from its grasp very often this season, but it happened Sunday afternoon at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
In the end, it truly was a group effort to hang on. Mackenzie Blackwood made 24 saves and Brock Nelson’s power-play goal proved to be a difference maker for the Avs in a 3-2 victory.
When Valeri Nichushkin whipped a wrist shot past Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson after a cross-ice pass from Devon Toews at 1:47 of the second period, the Avalanche had a 3-1 lead and a 15-4 advantage in shots on goal. At that point, the Avs looked in total control.
Whether it was bad decisions with the puck or sagging energy levels from playing a third road game in less than four days — or both of those things feeding each other — the Flyers were able to keep this from being yet another Colorado runaway in a season full of them.
Travis Konecny made it a 3-2 game at 5:58 of the second. Josh Manson drove the net in the Flyers end and had a centering pass sent in his direction, but when that connection did not work out the home side went the other way quickly. That left Brent Burns on an island, and then a bank pass off the right boards from Emil Andre helped Konecny slip behind the veteran defenseman.
Konecny’s subtle fake like he was going left appeared to fool Blackwood and allowed him space to tuck one inside the near post.
Some of the issues in the second period bled into the third, and a desperate Flyers team poured on the pressure. Blackwood made several key saves, but there were also two wide-open nets on rebounds or busted plays that a player in front of him prevented a goal on as well.
One of the biggest moments came when Trevor Zegras earned a penalty shot at 4:54 of the third. Zegras is one of the best shootout scorers in NHL history, but Blackwood denied the slick-skilled Zegras and kept the Avs lead intact. The Avs weren’t happy that it was a penalty shot, feeling that Nathan MacKinnon had committed the infraction but also let up and allowed Zegras to get a shot attempt off.
Sean Couturier gave the Flyers an early lead with a tip-in goal from a tight angle. Noah Juulsen’s shot was going two feet wide of the Colorado cage, but Couturier was able to direct it just inside the near post at 2:09 of the opening period.
Philadelphia had two shots on goal at that point. The Avs went into lock-down mode for a while after that, yielding just two more shots in the next 21 minutes en route to building a 3-1 advantage.
Burns evened the score at 8:28 of the first. Martin Necas had the puck low in the left circle but found Burns with a diagonal pass and his shot from the edge of the right circle beat Ersson for his fourth goal of the season.
Necas, who had three assists Saturday in a win against the New York Rangers, had a point on six straight Colorado goals dating back to the final two scored Thursday night on Long Island.
Nelson scored a rare power-play goal for the Avs to take the lead late in the first. A Cale Makar shot from the top of the offensive zone led to a goal-mouth scramble, with Nelson finding a way to poke the puck across the line for his 10th of the season. MacKinnon had an assist on the play, giving him a league-leading 49 points.
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