NHL Recaps: Avalanche top Canucks, and Tristan Jarry back from IR leads Penguins
The Daily Goal Horn
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NHL Recaps: January 20, 2023
Two games were all fans had to watch on Friday night, but intriguing storylines were abound regardless.
The Colorado Avalanche continue to play winning hockey by beating the Vancouver Canucks on the road. Head coach Bruce Boudreau’s days are rumored to be numbered as speculation regarding Rick Tocchet taking his job get loader by the day.
Also, Tristan Jarry was activated from the injured list by the Pittsburgh Penguins and led them to victory with a stellar first game back.
Let’s jump into the action.
NHL Recaps: Avs top Canucks, Tristan Jarry leads Pens
Avalanche 4 vs Canucks 1
Mikko Rantanen collected one goal and one assist to pace the surging Colorado Avalanche to a 4-1 victory over the struggling Vancouver Canucks on Friday.
Andrew Cogliano, Valeri Nichushkin and Brad Hunt also scored for the defending Stanley Cup-champion Avalanche, who have won four straight games to move them into a wild-card position in the standings.
Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev made 28 saves and Nathan MacKinnon pocketed two assists to give him four goals and 15 points in a seven-game streak.
Colorado star defenseman Cale Makar missed a second consecutive game due to an upper-body injury, but did take part in the morning skate, a sign he may play Saturday against the Seattle Kraken.
Elias Pettersson replied for the Canucks, who have lost six of seven games and are on a 2-9-0 skid that has the hockey world expecting coach Bruce Boudreau to soon be relieved of his duties in what has been a trying season. Goalie Colin Delia stopped 25 shots.
Prior to the game, Boudreau was asked about the rumors and got emotional regarding the possibility of being fired. Fans responded during the game with “Bruce there it is” chants, made popular last season when the Canucks made a push for the playoffs.
“It’s hard to win games if we’re all going to chase the game,” Pettersson said via NHL.com. “But I know this team, we don’t quit, and we don’t quit for Bruce either.”
Penguins 4 vs Senators 1
Two of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ key pieces rejoined the roster Friday as starting goaltender Tristan Jarry was activated from injured reserve and defenseman Jeff Petry was activated from long-term injured reserve.
In corresponding moves, the Penguins reassigned goaltender Dustin Tokarski and defenseman Taylor Fedun to AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The Penguins also placed defenseman Kris Letang on long-term injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 28 and defenseman Jan Rutta on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 14.
Last night, Jake Guentzel had two goals and an assist while Jarry made a career-high 46 saves to pace the Penguins past the visiting Ottawa Senators 4-1.
The Penguins earned three of a possible four points in the home-and-home after Ottawa won Wednesday 5-4 in overtime.
“I thought I was seeing the puck well,” Jarry said via NHL.com. “I’ve had a little bit of time off. Obviously, it’s never easy having to watch games and it’s never easy having to watch guys go out every night and give it their all, and you can’t be out there with them.”
Rickard Rakell and Jason Zucker also scored, and Bryan Rust added two assists for the Penguins, who are 4-2-1 in their past seven games.
Brady Tkachuk scored for the Senators, who fell to 2-5-0 in their past seven.
Ottawa goaltender Cam Talbot made 40 saves.
–Field Level Media
–The Daily Goal Horn contributed to this article