On Tuesday night, the Tampa Bay Lightning came into Denver with a five-game winning streak and looking to continue it. The Colorado Avalanche had other ideas, especially forward Victor Olofsson, as he heats up once again. He would have his second multi-goal effort in a week. Tuesday night would play out similarly to a playoff game, as they always do between these two teams with their history. But Scott Wedgewood also stood tall to hold off the approaching storm and walk away with the 3–2 victory.

Views from the Mountaintop

The power play for the Avalanche has been struggling lately, converting 16.3 percent of their chances and ranking 23rd in the league. Colorado has been concentrating a lot on improving its special teams practice by spending a lot of time on it. During the first two chances, the Avalanche did exactly what they should. The first power play wore out the penalty killers and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. The second chance came almost right away, so there was no rest for the Lightning. Colorado picked up with the rapid movement and one-timers. Victor Olofsson took advantage of a rebound and shot the puck in to tie the game and convert on the power play.

When Victor Olofsson scores, he scores in bunches. Olofsson went ten straight games without scoring a goal for the Avalanche. Then, he opened up like a floodgate. Something clicked for him. He scored three goals against the New Jersey Devils on October 28. On Tuesday night against the Lightning, Olofsson added two more. Maybe he needed some time to get comfortable with a new team. He has crashed the net a lot more, giving him the opportunity to score more. His second goal of the night came in the slot on another rebound. He is finding himself in the right place at the right time.

Defense for the Avalanche stepped up on Tuesday night. They were blocking shots throughout the entire game, ending the night with 15. The last two minus of the game were big for blocked shots. Tampa had pulled Vasilevskiy for the extra attacker, and everyone attempted to block shots. Cale Makar had two blocked shots in back-to-back shots from Nikita Kucherov. The defense also killed all three penalties that they had. Tampa came into the game with a 90 percent success rate, so it was almost certain that they were going to get a goal.

Up Next

The Avalanche will take on their Western Conference rival in the Edmonton Oilers, on Saturday at 8 p.m. MT. Altitude Sports 2 and KTVD My20 will broadcast the game.