With 1:57 left in extra time, Nathan MacKinnon potted the game-winner for the Colorado Avalanche in a 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers in Sunrise.
“It’s great,” MacKinnon said. “It just shows the resilience our team has. We’re a very calm group and confident group. Obviously, it’s easy to be confident with our record, but I think we [are]. We feel like we’re in it. We’re only down by two (after the first period). Luckily, I finished it in OT.”
Andre Burakovsky struck twice and Joonas Donskoi had a goal in regulation for the Avs who trailed 3-1 in the game.
“I don’t know how good we can be,” Burakovsky said. “We have a fantastic team. Just the start we’ve had has been great. I still think we’re doing a lot of mistakes. If we can just eliminate those, get down to maybe half of it, we can look really good.”
Philipp Grubauer made 40 saves for the win.
“We needed [Grubauer] to make some saves, especially late in the game,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “He was really good in the third. I didn’t love his start. I thought he was fighting the puck a little bit, but when we needed him to make a save for us, he did it.”
Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice and Frank Vatrano had a shorthanded goal in the loss.
“I don’t know what’s going on right now,” Huberdeau said. “We’ve got a lead and we cannot lose it every time in the second period. We’ve got to tighten up some things down defensively, especially our line. We got scored on twice. It can’t happen. Obviously, we scored, but we can’t get scored on.”
[WATCH: All Avalanche vs. Panthers highlights]
Sergei Bobrovsky made 36 saves as the Panthers dropped to 2-2-3.
“We knew this was a good team,” Bobrovsky said. “They’re on a roll right now. We have to find a way to win these games.”
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