Justus Annunen stopped 37 shots to get his second shutout of the season — both against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Justus Annunen stopped 37 shots to get his second shutout of the season — both against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Colorado Avalanche earned two points with a 5-0 shutout victory from Justus Annunen over the Chicago Blackhawks at Ball Arena on Monday night.
First period
Andrew Cogliano was assessed the first penalty of the game for tripping 7:46 into the period. Justus Annunen made a huge glove save during the penalty kill to keep the puck out of the net and the Blackhawks off the board.
Nathan MacKinnon extended his home-point scoring streak to 30 games with the first goal at 7:29. Cale Makar earned his 233rd career assist on the goal, which set a new franchise record for the most assists by a defenseman. Makar now holds the lead for franchise defensemen in points, goals and assists.
Jonathan Drouin beat Petr Mrazek up high for his first goal since Jan. 13 off of a shovel pass from Ross Colton. Zach Parise was awarded an assist on the goal. Drouin said last week for the first time playing on a line with Parise that there were some good moments and some not so good but both played a simple game.
The Hawks outshot the Avs 15-12 but the period ended 2-0 the other way.
Second period
Blackhawks rookie forward Connor Bedard grabbed a turnover and rushed in on Annunen on a breakaway — only to be denied the back of the net by the young Finnish goaltender.
Makar wristed the puck over Mrazek's shoulder to notch his first goal in 11 games. The young D-man has been working his way out of a funk — which paid off 12:38 into the middle frame.
In his 14th game with the Avs, Parise scored his fourth goal on assists from Caleb Jones and MacKinnon.
The Avalanche outshot the Hawks 14-8 and the period ended in favor of the home team up by four.
Third period
The Avs killed off a slashing penalty to Bowen Byram for the only disadvantage of the period.
MacKinnon's second effort in front of the net was rewarded with four minutes and 25 seconds left in the game.
While the Hawks outshot the Avs in the third 14-11, Colorado finished with a 5-0 victory.
MacKinnon earned four points with six shots on goal, while Makar tallied two with five SOG.
Importance of Annunen's solid goaltending
Annunen stopped 37 shots to get his second shutout of the season — both against the Hawks.
"Yeah, of course like when you are making the saves you, the more confident that when you are getting, a couple big ones you feel more confident. Like every save that you get, so felt good," Annunen said after the game.
Head coach Jared Bednar praised his netminder for his effort to get the two points for the team.
"He looked like he picked up right where he left off in Chicago. Six periods of rock solid goaltending for me. I thought he looked sharp. He was on top of the crease. He looked huge in the net again, made some athletic saves," Bednar said. "Because we had a couple, like first two periods we didn't give up a lot. I haven't looked at the third but I can't imagine it's a lot either. But the ones we did give up, we gave up a couple of really good ones from the slot area off the faceoff — the one where our centerman got picked on the penalty kill and Jones walks it right down main street. Yeah, and some surprise plays — deflections, slicing it through to the net in traffic, even that last save off the faceoff, it's going wide (and) it hit somebody and comes right back off his shoulder but he was top of the crease looking big, was in all the right spots."
Jack Johnson stressed the importance of Annunen's solid goaltending in Monday night's game and moving forward.
“He was awesome. We’re going to need great goaltending down the stretch and to have success in the playoffs, it’s no secret," Johnson said. "You know, he’s provided us with that. I said earlier, in any game, you’re not going to play a perfect game. There’s always going to be chances the other team gets and he’s standing tall and you can see how confident he is.”
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