Good and bad: Kiviranta scores twice against Georgiev to lift Avalanche over San Jose

The fight between Alexandar Georgiev and Mackenzie Blackwood ended with Joel Kiviranta’s show.

Kiviranta scored twice against his former teammate to give the Avalanche a 4-2 win on Thursday. Georgiev made 27 saves in the loss but again allowed four goals for the ninth time in 21 starts this season. Colorado’s other goals came from Valeri Nichushkin and Mikko Rantanen – both on the power play.

On the other hand, Blackwood made 32 saves against his former team and improved to 2-1-0 in three games with the Avs. Blackwood has stopped 91 of 97 shots since the move and has allowed just two goals in each of his three starts. It was a night and day difference as he and Scott Wedgewood manned the goal crease at Jared Bednar’s club.

The Avs scored first with their first shot of the game. They converted a penalty and quickly eliminated the PP problems with a goal from Nichushkin. Yes, Georgiev allowed a goal on his first shot.

Colorado continued to pressure after the power play, but the early dominance quickly shifted the other way. The Sharks controlled the later stages of the first period and took control in the second period. They scored two goals in 5:03 minutes in the middle frame, tying the game and then taking the lead. On each goal, a turnover by Nathan MacKinnon led to a puck getting past Blackwood. The Avs’ sloppy second half was easy to forget.

San Jose is a young, talented team. But with that comes inexperience and the struggle to finish games late. That was the case again for head coach Ryan Warsofsky’s team. San Jose appeared to be flat in the third period and although they had three power play opportunities, they were outscored by three points, allowing the game to slip away.

First, Rantanen scored with the one-timer. He received a circle-to-circle pass from MacKinnon and fired it past Georgiev. It was a classic PP goal between the Avs’ two star forwards.

Then the Kiviranta show began.

The Finnish forward scored his first goal with 6:53 left in regulation to give the Avalanche the lead, which ended up being the game-winner. Kiviranta led a 3-on-2 attack by the Avs and decided to take the shot. He defeated Georgiev for the sixth time this season.

His second goal came less than three minutes later. Kiviranta scored a one-timer off an assist from Artturi Lehkonen.

Good: Special teams finally favor the Avs

It feels like an eternity since the Avalanche have picked up a win in the special teams department. The power play scored just three goals in 10 games before scoring twice on Thursday. And the penalty was a perfect 5-on-5 game.

At times, particularly in the second period, more reasons began to be seen as to why the PP had stagnated in recent weeks. Colorado was very cautious with the puck at times, skimming and failing to make the easy play. But with Rantanen’s late goal after Nichushkin’s early goal, they put things right. It wasn’t perfect, but when you’re 2 against 4 on PP, you’re doing something right.

The PK was far more impressive, especially in the third period. Within seven minutes, Colorado took three penalties but converted every one. Rantanen’s PP goal was between these three penalties. Immediately after the third penalty, Kiviranta’s starting shot was fired. This is the type of special teams win this team needed. Let’s see if they can make it to Friday.

Bad: Unnecessary sales

Both of San Jose’s goals were the result of unnecessary sloppy turnovers. On their first pass, MacKinnon forced a pass into the slot that landed perfectly on the tape of a San Jose player. The rush went the other way and the finish quickly followed.

On the second goal, Lehkonen grabbed a rebound after a save from Blackwood. He tried to throw it to MacKinnon to initiate the rush, but MacKinnon began galloping up the ice before the puck was on his stick. Instead, San Jose regained control. MacKinnon quickly stopped to retreat to the defense, but it was too late.

Both plays were sloppy, unnecessary and the type of plays that have troubled this team so often this year.