The Colorado Avalanche welcomed back Valeri Nichushkin after missing two months and he made an impact in his return.

Colorado was without Valeri Nichushkin for 22 games but he made a statement upon his return with the game-winning goal in overtime to beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 Friday night. 

Typically it would take some players a game or two to get back into their groove but Nichushkin did not look like he lost much of a step. 

"He's one of our guys that you know, and we have lots of them, but trains hard to get himself physically ready. He's dialed into all the details. I mean, that's what makes him so successful," head coach Jared Bednar said after the game. "It's not just his size strength, skating ability — like that is a natural part but he works at that hard. But he is a dialed in player when it comes to every aspect of the game, that's why he's on the ice when we're up goals, when we're down goals, when we're defending leads, etc. — power play, penalty kill, he does it all for us. So he's always been that way, wasn't expecting it to change."

Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov was assessed a hooking call 42 seconds into the extra time and Nichushkin scored on the man-advantage with assists from Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. 

For Nichushkin's teammate, Cale Makar, his return was impactful to get the win as he picked up where he left off before he went into the NHL Players Assistance Program in January. 

“He’s an unreal presence in front of the net there. I felt like we were snapping it around. I felt like the puck was bouncing all night kind of everywhere, so good for Val (Nichushkin) to clean that up in front of the net and good play by Mikko (Rantanen) and Nate (MacKinnon) there," the 25-year-old defenseman said.     

The victory was far from a smooth, easy game — the team battled through mistakes and gave up lots of scoring chances to the Wild — but newcomer Casey Mittelstadt said he was glad to get the win in his burgundy and blue debut.

"Little crazy I think for last few days but obviously it's nice to get the first one out of the way and get a win for sure and now it's time to move forward.

"I thought we got better as the game went on. I think, obviously, like you said, it's gonna be a little bit of a jumble at first and we're gonna have to build some chemistry but I mean, I felt like as the game went on, we got better and better. And you know, in the third we had our chances for sure," the 25-year-old forward said. 

It wasn't the first time Mittelstadt played at Ball Arena but it was quite a change for him as part of the home team. 

"It was really cool. Obviously sold out, a little different than where I've been so I was excited and it was pretty awesome. It was definitely, definitely awesome for sure," Mittelstadt said. 

MacKinnon continued his streak of scoring at least a point in every game at Ball Arena with an assist on Artturi Lehkonen's goal 42 seconds into the game. Minnesota's Brock Faber tied it up midway through the second period. Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves while the Avs had 40 shots on goal. 

Colorado will hit the road next week with three games in Canada before ending their time away with a game against the St. Louis Blues on March 19. 

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