It is no longer 2016-17 in Denver. The Colorado Avalanche have put that season in the rear view mirror.
On Thursday night, the Avs handed the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets a 2-0 loss and in the same win extended their win streak to four games.
That’s a season high as they improved to 21-16-3.
“I thought he did a real nice job of making the first save and either smothering the puck or else using his stick to clear it. He had numerous ones that were laying there and he got active with his hands to clear pucks to the corner, keep it out of the danger area, which is real important, especially the way they crash the net,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said after the game.
Jonathan Bernier made 34 saves to get the shutout.
“I didn’t feel that great, but it’s really good to get the win,” Bernier said. “I thought we battled hard. It’s never an easy game 1-0, but we played the right way, put the puck in deep and killed some time.
“I thought I was giving up a lot of rebounds. It was one of those nights where it’s hard to find the puck, so you’re just trying to be in good position and seal the bottom. I don’t think I was as sharp as a lot of games I’ve played this year.”
Mikko Rantanen and Matt Nieto scored for Colorado.
“It’s the mark of a good team. It’s what you need to do if you want to make the playoffs, you have to get a streak going. Now we’re four or five games above .500. It’s looking good, but you can’t get too comfortable,” Rantanen said after the game.
The Jackets dropped to 23-16-3 with the loss and are having issues winning on the road going 1-4-2 in their last seven games away from Columbus.
“We had some good looks,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said. “The first two periods, we just didn’t have a lot of juice it seemed like. We moved the lines around, we got going in the third, the goalie made a couple of good saves, but we can’t find a way.”
[WATCH: All Blue Jackets vs. Avalanche highlights]
Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves in taking the loss.
“It is what it was,” Bobrovsky said. “Our guys played hard, they played strong defense. Sometimes you have to give the other side credit and deal with the result. The game was played in our zone the first two periods. We got things going in the third period. The guys tried and worked hard. They tried to score.”
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