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Flynn’s Daily: Who’s trending, who’s not trending

Posted on by L. Dreeye
Flynn’s Daily: Who’s trending, who’s not trending

In their final home game before hitting the road, the Avalanche returned three key players. They lost to the Washington Capitals 5–2 in a team-wide rout. Colorado turned things around, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 on Monday night and facing the Caps again on Thursday night.

Alex Ovechkin is out of the Capitals lineup with a weekly lower-body injury. While one player doesn’t define the entire team, the Avs will have an advantage if he stays on the sidelines.

“No matter the situation, you never want players to go down. You know it’s a physical game and injuries are part of it, but my opponent wants to play for the other team. I want our team to have its own composition. That doesn’t apply to an 82-game season,” head coach Jared Bednar said after Wednesday’s practice.

Bednar said Alexander Georgiev trained lightly on Tuesday and Wednesday and everything “looked good.” He said Thursday could be an option.

Cale Makar was the storyline of the Avalanche’s game against Philadelphia, but others stood out: Casey Mittelstadt got the game-winner (and a big hat) and the Sams (Malinski and Girard) were outstanding.

Notably, Nathan MacKinnon had just two shots on target, averaging 3.45 in 11 October games and 3.9 in eight November games. His scoring is a huge part of the team’s success, and he earned an assist on Makar’s first goal. I’m not saying he’s slipping away – he had a quiet night and other elite players stepped up to win the game.

Justus Annunen had a terrible game against the Capitals on Friday of last week, but bounced back and played strong to help the Avs win in Philadelphia. Bednar was pleased with his performance, which shows the confidence of both coach and goalie.

Valery Nichushkin’s return was quiet, but just because he wasn’t on the scoresheet doesn’t mean he’s playing poorly. He recorded two punts and played on both special teams, adding nearly two more minutes than his second-line center.

“He (Nichushkin) was good today. He was very good in his first game back and I thought he was even better today,” Bednar said after the win at Wells Fargo Center.

Jonathan Drouin returned from injury in Game 1 last Friday and showed a spark in his game. He had an assist for Mittelstadt’s goal and played on the front line with MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen and Mikko Rantanen.

It’s a matter of time before the team comes together and the chemistry heats up with talent. And remember, Ross Colton and Gabriel Landeskog are still on IR and their return will have an impact.

Around the NHL

Buffalo Hockey Now: Sabers goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen beat the Los Angeles Kings 1-0 in his return from injury on Wednesday night. The Finnish goalkeeper missed two games with a lower-body injury and is 7-4-1 in 13 starts this season.

Read more: What you missed in the Sabers’ shutout win over the Kings

San Jose Hockey Now: The Sharks showed some signs of a possible win over the Dallas Stars in the second period, tying the game, but then things went downhill.

Down 2-1 midway through the middle frame, San Jose gave full control to the Stars, capped by Jamie Benn’s game-winner. SJHockey Now’s Sheng Peng said he saw “San Jose get sloppy with the puck, not too hard on pucks, and defend poorly.”

More on the Sharks’ loss to the Stars: Sharks locker room: 2 ugly minutes

More Avalanche news