Business was done and dealt with by the Colorado Avalanche in a 4–2 win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night. After falling in the shootout against the Preds earlier in the week, Colorado simply did what it had to do to get the victory.

For the Avalanche, it was far from pretty. But business isn’t pretty sometimes, and the Avs just keep finding ways to win. There will be things to take away from this one for Jared Bednar and company, but two points are two points.

View From the Mountaintop

The low-scoring affair meant a lot of good plays came from goaltenders. Justus Annunen got the start against his former team for the first time in his career. At the other end, Scott Wedgewood got the nod against his own former team. It came just days after he was pulled in the shootout against the Preds after a collision with Filip Forsberg. His first appearance since then was solid, ending with a 27-save win to ease what was four wins in five games for the Preds.

A lot of struggles came all over the ice for Colorado, which weren’t as dangerous and dominant as it was in previous games. They even fell behind in the shots category midway through the second period when Nashville was threatening for an equalizer. Going scoreless in four power plays didn’t help the Avs’ efforts. But a big goal off the back of Victor Olofsson on a delayed penalty call swung momentum back in the home team’s favor. Colorado never looked back from there.

There was a scare when Valeri Nichushkin went down in the third period after taking a high stick on a follow-through. Luckily, he returned to the game and scored an empty-netter. Josh Manson also fell injured early in the lead-up to Nathan MacKinnon’s goal at 1:26. Manson did return, however. The goal by MacKinnon was the ninth of the season in the opening 90 seconds of the game. It’s the most goals in a single season in franchise history in the first 90 seconds of a game.

Other standouts from this game included Gavin Brindley, who played on the top line alongside MacKinnon and Artturi Lehkonen. Martin Necas moved to the third line alongside Ross Colton and the aforementioned Olofsson. Sam Girard also had a nice two-point night, while Gabriel Landeskog continued to be a presence everywhere on the ice. The win moves Colorado to 53 points, six ahead of the Dallas Stars after they fell in a shutout loss to the Florida Panthers earlier in the day.

Up Next

The Avs hit the road for one quick game against the Seattle Kraken, looking to take care of business once again. Puck drop on Tuesday night is at 8:00 p.m. MT. TNT will broadcast the game.