Avs-Sens Analysis: Eller's Snipe and JoJo's Save

Colorado hangs on to win crazy game against Sens thanks to last-second save.

Richard Whittaker/Icon Sportswire

Tonight’s game in Ottawa felt like it was 2-0 in the blink of an eye. But it also needed an unbelievable sprawling save by a third-string goalie with 4.1 seconds remaining to secure the win.

What looked like a game that would never be in doubt, was in doubt until the final seconds ticked off the clock.

That’s hockey. And more importantly, that was a 5-4 win for the Colorado Avalanche on the road against a very tough Ottawa Senators team in the second half of a back-to-back.

Exhale.

That was an awesome, wild, weird, crazy, stressful, physical (and probably 10 other adjectives) game. Cale Makar set the tone early with a goal and then an assist as his point shot was redirected by Valeri Nichushkin for two quick points by the all-world d-man.

The Senators feel like the Avalanche team of 2018. They have a bunch of young talent, they’re fun to watch and they have a captain with skill and grit. Like that Avs team, though, they’re not quite there yet.

The Sens fought back several times in this game, refusing to roll over and let Colorado walk all over them. They scored on the power play near the end of the first period to get some life and momentum heading into the locker room. They had that same push all the way to the end, scoring twice in the third to cut the deficit to one.

Then came “the save.” I didn’t capitalize the words because as impressive and important as it was, let’s be honest: this is still a game in Ottawa against a team out of the playoffs in March. It was still pretty friggin’ sweet, though.