Not many individual performances stand out quite like the one Pavel Francouz had at PNC Arena on Thursday.
The Avalanche’s backup netminder played a near-perfect game, helping the Avs to a 3-2 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday despite being outshot 48-15. Francouz made 46 saves to earn his second victory over Carolina in under a week.
Evan Rodrigues and Alex Newhook scored in regulation before Artturi Lehkonen fired a one-timer past goalie Antti Raanta in overtime to seal the two points. It was Lehkonen’s fifth of the season and second game-winner.
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The Avs never trailed despite the shot discrepancy. Colorado took a 1-0 lead in the first person after Rodrigues’ power-play tally. It held as the only goal of the opening frame before Carolina was able to claw back in the second.
With the game knotted at 1-1 and the Avs barely managing to weather the storm, defenseman Josh Manson sent Newhook in on a breakaway, giving the young struggling forward his third of the year. Newhook was demoted from the top six in Monday’s 3-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues and was looking for a bounce back performance.
The Avs held that lead into the third before a bizarre miscommunication led to another game-tying goal. Defenseman Andreas Englund, who is playing in his second game with the Avs, collided with Francouz behind the net, causing the goalie to lose his stick and desperately try to regain positioning in his crease. The Hurricanes took advantage of the broken play as Martin Necas fired it past Francouz to tie it up.
Already struggling to find any offensive consistency, Colorado suddenly found itself on the penalty kill late in regulation following a high sticking call on Newhook. Thanks largely to Francouz, the Avs found a way to get the game to overtime, eventually killing the rest of Newhook’s minor before J.T. Compher and Lehkonen connected on the game-winning tally.
The Avalanche improved to 5-1 in their last six games despite a laundry list of injuries.
