Postgame: Manson Hurt In Avalanche’s OT Loss To Vegas

Ron Chenoy-Imagn ImagesRon Chenoy-Imagn Images

In their second last home game of the regular season, and the first since securing the Presidents’ Trophy, the Avalanche fell 3-2 in overtime to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.

The Avs didn’t have much to play for, but the opposition was still in need of two points to clinch a playoff spot. Now that they’ve done that, the Knights are still fighting for positioning in the Pacific Division.

Devon Toews and Nick Blankenburg scored for the Avalanche. Martin Necas recorded an assist to reach 99 points, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 26 saves, including 11 in the third period.

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For Toews, it was just his third of the season and first since March 2. Blankenburg’s tally was his first in an Avalanche uniform in his ninth game.

The Avs fell to 52-16-11 and have 113 points on the season. They are just six points away from matching their best regular season ever, when they had 119 points in 2021-22. The second-best regular-season team was the 2000-01 squad that put up 118 points. Both of those teams won the Stanley Cup. Colorado has three games remaining.

In mor pressing news, Josh Manson left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return. After the game, assistant coach Nolan Pratt said the team will know more about his status on Sunday. The Avalanche open a two-game road trip through Alberta on Monday.

Pratt spoke to the media because head coach Jared Bednar also missed the later stages of the game after getting hit with a puck early in the third period.

After the game, the team provided an update on Bednar’s status, saying the head coach took a puck to the right cheek. He is alert and conscious and heading to a local hospital for further evaluation and a CT scan.

Toews got the scoring started with his first power-play goal of the year. The defenseman took a shot from the point that squeaked past the Golden Knights’ goalie to make it 1-0 just 9:17 into the contest. Brock Nelson got the primary assist, but Necas’ secondary assist put him at 99 points.

The Knights responded with a power-play goal of their own four and a half minutes later. Mark Stone scored from just above the crease, beating Blackwood to even the score at 1-1.

Vegas came out strong to start the second period, and Pavel Dorofeyev tallied his 36th of the year at 2:09 to give Vegas its first lead of the game. The Avs, who had a 15-7 advantage in shots through 20 minutes, chased for almost a half a period before tying it back up.

Blankenburg also beat Carter Hart from a distance. His shot hit the post, bounced off the back of the goalie, and trickled in. Nic Roy got the lone helper.

The OT winner came from Jack Eichel on a counterattack following a golden opportunity for Toews that missed the net at the other end.

Good: Toews Is Getting Going Offensively

Even though he didn’t get the OT winner, Toews is still getting going offensively as of late. In his last 22 games, he has two goals and 11 points. That comes after he had just 12 points in 44 games going into the Olympic break.

Toews has still been a great defensive player all year, but his offense has not been up to his standard.

Bad: Injury Scares

Losing Manson to an upper-body injury is not ideal, especially when the games don’t mean all that much. It’s still unclear what the severity of his injury is, or if was more precautionary to pull him from the game.

These last three games are going to be a challenge to get through with that constant feeling of hoping nobody gets hurt before the playoffs.

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