That trade for Casey Mittelstadt looks pretty good so far.
Mittelstadt had three assists, including setting up the go-ahead goal with 6:31 left, and the Colorado Avalanche shook off a few minutes of lackluster hockey in the third period Sunday night to defeat the Ottawa Senators, 5-4, at Ball Arena.
It’s the Avs’ fifth straight win since starting the season 0-4. It’s also back-to-back three-point games for Mittelstadt, who joined the club before the trade deadline last season from Buffalo and signed a three-year contract this offseason.
Mittelstadt earned the primary assist on all three goals. He’s up to five goals and 12 points in nine games, and hasn’t played a minute yet this season with the two guys who will eventually be his wings — Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin.
He found Logan O’Connor in front of the net to make it a 3-2 game. Ross Colton continued his scoring tear to start the season with his eighth of the season 90 seconds later. Nathan MacKinnon added an empty-netter with 1:15 left to seal the win.
After Colorado had bottled up Ottawa for nearly 50 minutes, the Senators scored twice in 2:08 to even the score at 2-2. Brady Tkachuk had the first one, after a Tyler Kleven shot from the right point went wide. The rebound off the boards behind Justus Annunen came right to Tkachuk at the left post for a tap-in with 10:45 left in the third.
That was at the end of a shift where the Avs looked uncharacteristically a step behind after being in control for most of the night before that. Ottawa kept pushing and found another similar goal with 8:37 left. Nick Cousins put home the rebound of a shot from the left point after getting position on Colton near the right post.
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Nikolai Kovalenko’s first NHL goal came with 7.8 seconds left in the first period to give the Avs the lead. Kovalenko found a spot in the slot to post up during a 6-on-5 because of a delayed Ottawa penalty, and Mittelstadt found him for a one-timer.
MacKinnon had the secondary assist on Kovalenko’s …read more
Source:: The Denver Post – Sports
