Avs Beat Themselves, Lose to Wild in Shootout

Matt Duchene continues to play a strong two-way game for the Avalanche. Photo courtesy of NBC Sports

The Colorado Avalanche were nursing a 2-1 lead with five minutes left in the 3rd period, but penalties and and an inability to score in the shootout resulted in a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild Wednesday night.

The Avalanche were doing everything they could in the first period to put themselves behind early, playing nearly half the period shorthanded behind four penalties and only generating six shots. The Wild capitalized on the ample powerplay time when Brent Burns put in a rebound from a shot by Wild captain Mikko Koivu.

Colorado brought the lunch pale in the 2nd period though, as they completely dominated the play in all three zones. Darcy Tucker took a pass from rookie phenom Ryan O’Reilly and launched his fourth goal of the season past Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom. Tucker is already at half of his goal production from a year ago in just the ninth game.

Kyle Quincey put Colorado ahead after the Avs capitalized on a lazy defensive breakdown by the Wild in their own zone. After several attempts to clear the puck were intercepted by the Avs’ players, Cody McLeod took a stick to the face, threw the puck at the net, and skated toward the bench hunched over in pain as Quincey knocked in the rebound. Coach Joe Sacco said that McLeod will be evaluated after the game to see the extent of the injury.

After a near perfect 2nd period, the Avs were once again done in by penalties in the 3rd.. After Wojtek Wolski shot the puck over the glass, Colorado allowed a second power play goal for the first time this season, a nice redirection by Koivu.

For the shootout, the Avs picked forwards Marek Svatos, Milan Hejduk, and Wolski. Svatos and Wolski missed the net, and Hejduk’s shot was stopped. Koivu finished a strong game by beating a flopping Craig Anderson for the lone goal for Minnesota. Colorado finished their long road trip with an impressive 4-1-2 record and 10 out of a possible 14 points.

Notes:

The Minnesota Wild are exactly who I thought they’d be after Jacques Lemaire resigned from his head coaching duties in the offseason. They are a feistier, more aggressive team, more exciting to watch, but also prone to defensive lapses like we saw with the action that led to Quincey’s goal. How far that team will go this season is still unclear, but based on this game, I think it’s fair to say (1) They’re better than their record thus far shows (their last five losses have all been on the road) and (2) Former teammate Andrew Brunette is still very dangerous around the net. While he didn’t score any points tonight, he had his chances and he’s already scored five goals this year. God I miss him…

Craig Anderson continues to impress me. I’ve forgotten what’s it like to have a number 1 goaltender. Can you imagine a goaltender starting nine straight games in the Quenneville/Granato eras? I almost forgot we still had Peter Budaj, who we haven’t seen play a second this season. Thus far I haven’t seen any reason to worry about him not being able to handle a full season as the #1 guy. His teammates certainly have a lot of confidence in him as well.

While O’Reilly continues to put up the points, don’t let Matt Duchene’s lack of production fool you. He made some incredible defensive plays tonight, plays that could’ve very easily went bad for the Avs and cost us both points in a game we should’ve won.

Next up the Colorado Avalanche will be hosting the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night. The Avs will be honoring Alexei Gusarov before the game.