Good & Bad: Samuel Girard breaks through in OT to lift Avalanche over Nashville

On By Littum

DENVER – Samuel Girard has two career overtime goals, both coming against the Nashville Predators, the team that traded him to the Avalanche seven years ago.

Girard took the puck away from Brady Skjei in the Avs’ zone after Skjei lost his footing and came in all alone before wristing a wrister past Juuse Saros for his first goal of the season to lift the Avs to a 3-2 OT win.

Devon Toews also had his first tally of the season for the Avs, who improved to 8-8-0 on the season and 3-1-0 in their last four games.

“It’s been a strength of our team for years now, the involvement of our D on the offensive end,” head coach Jared Bednar said.

Toews’ tally came early in the second period with Nashville leading 1-0. Girard also assisted on that goal.

The Avs trailed 1-0 after a rough first period before taking a 2-1 lead into the third. They gave up the game-tying goal 59 seconds into the final period before battling through the rest of regulation and eventually into OT.

The team seems to have found its footing in the last four games. It coincides with Artturi Lehkonen’s return, but the Finnish forward didn’t produce much against Nashville. He had one shot and four giveaways in 24:31.

What else changed?

“We’re more competitive than we were earlier in the year,” Bednar said. “We’re figuring out the identity of exactly what this team needs to do and how we need to play to be successful with this current lineup.”

Good: Alexander Georgiev

The Avalanche netminder deserves credit for another strong effort. Despite the team ahead of him starting slowly for the third game in a row, Alexandar Georgiev settled in and kept the game within reach. Even after Nashville scored early.

Colorado was outscored 12-6 in the first period, but came out strong in the second. They had the dominant shift from the top line, which came after the game-tying goal and before Rantanen’s green light. But after the second Avs goal, Nashville took over again. Georgiev stopped all 13 shots he faced in the middle frame and let Colorado play with a lead to start the third period.

Roman Josi eventually set up Colton Sissons for a nice goal early in the third to tie things up. But in the final minutes of regulation, Georgiev came through with a massive game-saving desperation save.

Georgiev has started three straight games after playing once in more than two weeks.

“I know I’m a good goalie, so I just try to play the best I can and give us a chance to win every night,” he said.

Good: The dominant shift

Gustav Nyquist was on the ice for 1:41 during a shift of dominance from Nathan MacKinnon, Rantanen and Lehkonen. It started with MacKinnon hitting the post from close range. Cale Makar then had another shot blocked by defender Jeremy Lauzon before Rantanen had an opportunity of his own.

It was the type of shift you can build on. And a few minutes later, Rantanen scored his fifth goal in four games from a one-time feed from Joel Kiviranta.

MacKinnon also assisted on Rantanen’s goal.

Good: Samuel Girard

Girard is quietly posting better offensive numbers than he has in previous years. Through 16 games, he has one goal and nine points – two of which came against the Preds. Ever since returning from his NHLPA Player Assistant Program last year, Girard has consistently been one of Colorado’s more reliable skaters. He continues this trend to start 2024-25 and is being rewarded for it.

Girard’s OT tally came on his first shot of the game. But he also finished with three blocks, a hit and a +2 rating in 19:00 of ice time.

Bad: Leaving Nashville hanging around

The Predators are (surprisingly) the worst team in the Western Conference. They have just five wins through the first 16 games, one of which came against the Avs. And had it not been for Georgiev’s late save and Girard’s heroics, they were well on their way to another victory.

In the first meeting between the two clubs, Nashville came away with a 5-2 win at home. And in Monday’s rematch, the Avs allowed the Preds to dominate early and then take over completely after the Rantanen goal.

Colton Sissons has two goals and zero assists through 15 games. Both of his goals have come against the Avs. And Juuso Saros has played two of his best games this year against Colorado.

The third of four meetings between the two teams is on December 14.