Avs dispatch Ducks

In Denver, the closest this one got was opening face-off on Monday night.  The Colorado Avalanche dispatched the Anaheim Ducks, in 5-2 decision.

Philipp Grubauer made 13 saves to get the win.

“He’s been amazing for us, and tonight was no different,” Colorado head coach Jared Bednar said. “When we had breakdowns, he was there to close the door and make the big saves when we needed them. He hasn’t been all that busy on most nights, but it’s not just the quantity of shots that makes a goaltender good. When we need a big save at key times of games or on penalty kills, he’s been there for us all year.”

Five different skaters scored for the Avs, including Mikko Rantanen, who staked the Avs to a 1-0 lead..

“It’s nice to score some goals,” Rantanen said. “That’s not the main thing why I go to the games, but I know I have to help the team on the offensive side of it. [Gabriel Landeskog] and [MacKinnon] are doing a good job of helping me get chances. I can’t complain. I try to do my best. If I can find the back of the net, that’s a good thing.”

The Ducks dropped to 11-20-5.

“I do think it is hard to do on a back-to-back when these guys have been sitting here licking their chops waiting for you,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “You can’t look at the standings and the players’ names on the other teams. You’ve got to come out and compete, and compete hard. I do think we did that at certain points, but at the end, the travel, the back-to-back, was too much for us against that group.”

Danton Heinen and Troy Terry scored for Anaheim.

Tyson Jost gave the Avs a 2-1 lead.

“It was a great game for us,” Jost said. “We knew they were on a back-to-back and we wanted to get after them right away. It was a great effort by our team, and we’re rolling right now, so we want to keep that up.”

Landeskog, J.T. Compher  and Valeri Nichushkin also had Denver strikes.

“Their gap was a little farther back, so I figured I would just kind of take it,” Makar said. “I didn’t really plan on going around the net, I wanted to try and feed it in front. [Nichushkin] made a good play in terms of driving to the net, and I just kind of tried to throw it around and hope for a good bounce, and luckily it went right on his stick, and he put it right in.”

Ryan Miller made 43 saves in the loss.