WHAT A COMEBACK!
Towards the end of the 1st period, I was considering just turning off the game. The only thought it my head was "Fire Georgiev into the sun". But I was only halfway through my beer and decided I wanted to see how Wedgewood performed. I expected a bit of a pushback but also a couple more Sabres goals and something like a 6-2 final score.
But man oh man. Logan O'Connor, Joel Kiviranta and Nathan By God MacKinnon put that team on their backs and slogged their way back into the game. They FINALLY figured out that to win they needed to play rough a tumble, unafraid, and assertive. It's like Kadri always said when he was asked how he turned his game around - you need to play aggressive! Well, I'm pretty sure the Sabres players are going to have nightmares of O'Connor hounding them, and their GM wondering how they can get a player like him. I have no idea what was said in the locker room after the 1st or who said it, but if it's a player, give them the C, and if it's Bednar, his job should be safe as can be. Not once this whole season have I seen the team play that committed. Now, was it perfect? No, of course not. Mittlestad is still trying to do too much, and it's dragging down his line, and Kovalenko had a great game on an individual level. I just don't see any chemistry on that line. And the MacKinnon line was on beast mode. Rantanen still fell down a lot, but you know what? I'll give him credit - he actually won a few puck battles (while falling down of course). And of course Lehkonen scores the game winner - he's going to go down as the most clutch goal scorer in Avalanche history after Joe Sakic.
And the cherry on top: Wedgewood looked fine. Not amazing. Dude has some crazy swimming strokes. But I don't care. He kept the puck out of the goddamn f***ing net. If the team has any brains, they'll ride him for as far as he can take them, and Georgiev never sees the Avalanche net again.
What a win. I should have another beer, but I have work tomorrow.