That trade for Casey Mittelstadt looks pretty good so far.
Mittelstadt had three assists, including setting up the go-ahead goal with 6:31 left, and the Colorado Avalanche shook off a few minutes of lackluster hockey in the third period Sunday night to defeat the Ottawa Senators, 5-4, at Ball Arena.
It’s the Avs’ fifth straight win since starting the season 0-4. It’s also back-to-back three-point games for Mittelstadt, who joined the club before the trade deadline last season from Buffalo and signed a three-year contract this offseason.
“Just to have him last year, and then see the work he put in this summer, we knew there was another gear this guy could find,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Another step he can take in his game, like his complete game, but what’s going to follow is the production. He’s a super-talented guy. He sees things other guys can’t see, and he makes plays other guys can’t make.”
Mittelstadt earned the primary assist on all three goals. He’s up to five goals and 12 points in nine games, and hasn’t played a minute yet this season with the two guys who could eventually be his wings — Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin.
He found O’Connor in front of the net to make it a 3-2 game. Ross Colton continued his scoring tear to start the season with his eighth of the season 90 seconds later. Nathan MacKinnon added an empty-netter with 1:15 left to seal the win.
“(Mittelstadt) will find you anywhere. It’s insane,” O’Connor said. “You just get open and … forehand, backhand, three guys on him, no space, he’s still going to find you. It’s pretty remarkable. He’s honestly one of the best puck players I’ve ever played with.”
After Colorado had bottled up Ottawa for nearly 50 minutes, the Senators scored twice in 2:08 to even the score at 2-2. Brady Tkachuk had the first one, after a Tyler Kleven shot from the right point went wide. The rebound off the boards behind Justus Annunen came right to Tkachuk at the left post for a tap-in with 10:45 left in the third.
Ottawa kept pushing and found another similar goal with 8:37 left. Nick Cousins put home the rebound of a shot from the left point after getting position on Colton near the right post.
Annunen ended up allowing four goals in the final 11 minutes after yielding just four in his previous 11 periods combined, but the shorthanded Avs remain in “two points, anyway possible” mode.
“I would say it was one of those games where we found a way,” O’Connor said. “I wouldn’t necessarily say it was how we wanted to win, but we’ll take those ones any day of the week.”
Nikolai Kovalenko’s first NHL goal came with 7.8 seconds left in the first period to give the Avs the lead. Kovalenko found a spot in the slot to post up during a 6-on-5 because of a delayed Ottawa penalty, and Mittelstadt found him for a one-timer.
MacKinnon had the secondary assist on Kovalenko’s goal. He thought he had scored a goal earlier in the period, but it was waved off for goaltender interference after Mikko Rantanen bumped Anton Forsberg as he was falling down near the left post.
Forsberg was at the center of some quirky drama in the second period. He needed repairs done to his skate, but the first time it took so long that the officials made Ottawa put Linus Ullmark in until the next stoppage in play. Forsberg came back in, but then had to exit a second time for more skate repairs. He eventually returned, so the Senators made four goalie changes during the period.
The Avs closed the second the same way they did the first — with a goal in the final minute. Josh Manson skated from the right point toward the middle of the ice and flung a harmless-looking backhanded shot at the net. Forsberg didn’t track it well, and had no idea where it was as it trickled behind him and into the net.
It was an odd night. Bednar split up MacKinnon and Rantanen at one point, then put them back together near the end. He also split up Cale Makar and Devon Toews.
The top players didn’t have a typically dominant night, but the Avs still scored five goals and remain one of the hottest teams in the NHL.
“When you’re losing and you feel like you’re not playing well, you start digging in to start playing better,” Bednar said. “It’s the attention to detail, the buy-in, the commitment it takes to win — just doing everything harder and cleaner.
“When you develop those habits and it comes around for you to get a little confidence, it tends to go that way.”
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