In Anaheim, Derek Grant opened the scoring on Monday night to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead over the visiting Colorado Avalanche.
And if you blinked, you missed the Anaheim highlight of the night as the Avs rolled over the Ducks, 5-1.
Jonas Johansson made 29 saves in the Avalanche win.
“We’ve been able to collect some points,” Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram said. “We’re in a tight race, so it means a lot.”
Colorado improved to 44-23-6, and moved to within a point of the first place Minnesota Wild atop the Central Division.
Byram tied the game, 1-1, at 15:43 in the first to get the Avs offense rolling.
“I’ve just been trying to shoot the puck,” Byram said. “Our forwards battle in front of the net to try and get screens, so I just shoot it, get it there for them, and a couple have gone in for me, so I’m happy about that.”
Anaheim fell to 23-41-10 off their fifth straight loss. They ended an eight-game homestand at 1-6-1.
“It’s obviously a tough time of year for us,” Ducks forward Ryan Strome said. “With things winding down and knowing our place in the standings, these are hard games, but I think playing against these good teams teaches us a lot of good lessons.”
Tough? The toughness left this team months ago.
Nathan MacKinnon scored with eight seconds left in the first stanza to give the Avs a 2-1 lead.
“I was looking to pass there,” MacKinnon said. “They kind of play passive a little bit in their [defensive] zone, so (Mikko Rantanen and Valeri Nichushkin) did a great job screening and I managed to find the short side.”
Jack Johnson and Nichushkin scored with 3:46 gone in the middle frame for a 4-1 advantage to Colorado.
“I think we were just trying to find our game early on a back to back,” MacKinnon said. “We’d like to have a better start, but got the lead.”
Samuel Girard scored off the power play in the third period for the 5-1 final.
“You see the way their [defense] activates, how confident they are out there and how they skate and forecheck,” Strome said of the Avalanche. “There are a lot of great lessons we can learn from these teams. That’s what I take from it, hopefully other guys do too.”
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John Gibson made 39 saves in another game without much support.
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