In Denver, Pavel Francouz made 29 saves, and the Avalanche shutout the Ottawa Senators, 7-0 on Saturday.
“These early games are a little bit different because you don’t have morning skate, so the routine is kind of off, so I feel like I’m a little bit sleepy always,” Francouz said. “I felt better with every save today. I think that was big that we scored two early goals and that helped us feel better.”
Colorado had lost seven of their previous eight games, and improved to 21-17-3.
“I thought we played great tonight, right from the drop of the puck,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “I thought Newhook was outstanding. [Logan O’Connor], after going through a little bit of a rough stretch, him and [Andrew Cogliano] were great tonight. ‘Lehky’ obviously had a good night. Our top guys were good again.”
The Avs scored twice in the first and second periods, and added three in the third period to ensure no rally was coming.
Mikko Rantanen, Artturi Lehkonen, and Alex Newhook each hit for doubles in the Colorado win.
“I think we were checking hard. We were skating when we were defending,” Rantanen said. “Last two games, we’ve been kind of not skating and just let the guy have the puck [for] too much time, and there’s a lot of good players in this league. If they get too much time you’re going to lose some games, so we were really good at that, and obviously ‘Frankie’ was exceptional again.”
Ottawa dropped to 19-20-3.
“They’re the Stanley Cup champions, so they’re a [heck] of a hockey team, but seven nothing. We should never get beat like that,” Ottawa forward Brady Tkachuk said. “It’s on us. Just turnovers, the way we played, all of us. We weren’t good at all tonight.
“It’s embarrassing.”
Rantanen and Newhook scored in the first period for a 2-0 lead to the Avs.
“I think it was a great play by [O’Connor] and ‘Cogs’ to check the puck back there,” Newhook said. “That was a big emphasis for us, to forecheck, and they did. I was just trying to come in late, be an option, and ‘Cogs’ made a great pass to me and I just tried to put it in the net.”
Lehkonen and Rantanen scored in the middle frame for a 4-0 advantage.
“Really determined player. Wants to make an impact every night and has made an impact on basically every night,” Bednar said. “Just trying to push himself to another level, the next level. He knows our team needs it. I just see a highly determined player in all areas of his game.”
Lehkonen’s second was off the power play in the third period for a 5-0 lead.
Colorado’s Brad Hunt ballooned the lead to 6-0 in the third, and Newhook added his second of the game for the 7-0 final.
“He’s a good player,” Rantanen said of Newhook. “He’s a very speedy guy and can shoot the puck like we saw two times today. He was really strong today. He was strong on the puck and it was fun to watch.”
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Anton Forsberg made 26 saves in the Senators loss.
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