In a game that featured two friends chasing records held by Wayne Gretzky, Jonathan Drouin reminded everyone why he’s been one of the best stories on the Colorado Avalanche this season.
Drouin had two goals and an assist, including the game-winner in overtime, to help the Avalanche erase a four-goal deficit for the third time in franchise history in a wild 5-4 victory Sunday against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Ball Arena. It was also the ninth straight win for the Avalanche, and the club is now a league-best 28-6-0 at home this season.
There were six or seven future members of the Hockey Hall of Fame on the same ice sheet, but Drouin had arguably his best game of the season, causing both Nathan MacKinnon and Avs coach Jared Bednar to say he was the best player on the ice.
“It’s been great ever since I got here, from day one,” said Drouin, who signed a one-year contract with Colorado this past offseason. “People have been great, the staff’s been great, the players … it’s just cool to be able to score some of these goals.”
Drouin’s excellence happened in conjunction with sublime performances from MacKinnon and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby. MacKinnon extended his home point streak to 34 games when he set up Drouin for a one-timer 3:32 in the third period. That is now the second-longest in NHL history, with only Gretzky’s 40 in 1985-86 in front of him.
A three-point effort also helped MacKinnon break Joe Sakic’s Denver-based season record for points. The franchise record is 139, set by Peter Stastny in 1981-82 when the club was based in Quebec.
MacKinnon set the record with 4:38 remaining in the third to get Colorado level. Drouin returned the favor with a cross-ice pass and MacKinnon’s one-timer became his 44th goal and 121st point of the season. He added point No. 122 on the Drouin goal in overtime.
“It’s tough to answer that,” MacKinnon said of breaking Sakic’s record. “Joe had it, and I don’t think I’m as good as Joe ever was. It’s a good number, a good stat to have. A lot of guys (on this team) are having special seasons for sure.”
The Avs have paced the NHL in comeback wins for much of the season, but this was the craziest. Before that, Crosby put forth one of the best one-man shows against Colorado in a long time.
Crosby had a goal and three assists and created several other scoring chances, willing the Penguins to a 4-0 lead against a sluggish Avs side. It was Crosby’s third four-point game of the season. He also has 73 points in 70 games and is on pace to average at least a point per game for the 19th time in his career. That would tie Gretzky for the most in NHL history.
“I thought Sid showed why he’s still the best. He dominated us today, especially our line,” MacKinnon said. “We had a better third for sure, but the full team effort, our depth … the guys we traded for were unreal.”
Pittsburgh outshot Colorado 16-4 in the opening period. The Avs got a little better to start the second, but Crosby scored a ridiculous goal to make it 3-0 and then set up the fourth one less than two minutes later.
Colorado found some life on the next shift. Sean Walker snapped a shot through traffic 25 seconds after Joseph’s goal to give him nine this season, including three in seven games since arriving in a trade from Philadelphia.
Two of the other new guys teamed up to cut Pittsburgh’s lead in half. Walker hit the crossbar with a shot, then later in the shift Brandon Duhaime’s shot went off Yakov Trenin and in to make it a 4-2 with 29.3 seconds left in the period. It was going to be Duhaime’s first with the Avs, but it was credited to Trenin — and became his first with the team instead.
That set up a furious third period, and eventually the 25th comeback victory of the season.
“They believed right to the end that we could come back and win that game,” Bednar said. “You can tell by the chatter in the locker room after one, after two, that they weren’t going to give up on it.
“I think it took an exceptional effort from our guys to win that hockey game. That took our whole roster, our depth, everybody involved in it.”
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