Despite Inspired Comeback, Avalanche Fall In Shootout To Hurricanes

The Colorado Avalanche failed to secure two points against one of the weakest teams in the NHL, at least according to standings. For a night, the Carolina Hurricanes looked like one of the Eastern Conference’s elite, taking the play to the Avs for large chunks of the game.

The Avalanche have everything to play for right now, as they try to get back into the playoff hunt, yet they really didn’t seem interested in doing the little things it takes to win until the third period.

The first period was a shooting gallery for the Hurricanes, who outshot Colorado 20-9. Fortunately, Calvin Pickard was up to the task, and allowed a single goal. Jordan Staal scored it, at 14:05 in the period, for his first of the season. Good to see Jordan getting back in the flow of things after breaking his leg. I’ve always enjoyed watching him play. Unfortunately the Avs seemed to enjoy standing and watching him play a little too much tonight as well.

The second period wasn’t measurably better for the Avalanche in terms of puck control, but they did manage to even out the shots. Carolina still held a 13-12 edge overall in the frame, and scored the period’s only goal to extend the lead to 2-0. It was a bit of a seeing eye shot from Patrick Dwyer, who was given too much space to pull the trigger by Ben Street.

The Avs seemed to find a bit more jump in the third period, and were kickstarted by an early Matt Duchene goal. Dutchy gathered up a pass from Jarome Iginla that bounced awkwardly to the front of the net, and quickly flipped it past Anton Khudobin to cut the lead in half.

It was a welcome sight for Duchene who stung the iron of the crossbar earlier in the game, on what would have been a highlight reel goal. Nathan MacKinnon also struck the post, but he wasn’t able to find the scoresheet.

John Mitchell tied things up at 10:05, with a snipe coming down the right wing. The play itself didn’t look dangerous, but Mitchell was able to put the puck in a spot that seemed to handcuff Khudobin.

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Both teams traded exciting scoring chances in the final minute of regulation, but the goaltenders game up big for each side.

Overtime was a rather lax affair, compared to some OT sessions I have witnessed. The Avalanche seemed content to play it safe and get to the shootout, which probably wasn’t a bad strategy. The Avs entered tonight with a 2-6 record in OT, but a 5-2 record in the shootout.

Unfortunately, tonight wasn’t their night in the shootout, as the Canes went 2/2, and Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene were both denied. MacKinnon went to his patented move, but was pokechecked by Khudobin.

Before I wrap this up, I’m going to review my three keys to the game from the preview, and evaluate how the Avalanche did.

Keys to the Game – Review

1. Pick me up from Pickard. If Roy sticks with the plan, Calvin Pickard will make his return to the nets for the Avalanche. Last time Pickard suited up for the Avs, he gave the team a nice boost with his consistently fantastic play. In fact, Pickard currently leads the NHL in qualified goaltenders with a 0.934 save percentage. Varlamov has been the man of late, but would be great to see Pickard remind Avalanche fans why we fell in love with him earlier this season.

Pass. Pickard played well for the Avalanche, stopping 44 of the 46 shots he faced (how do the Avs give up 46 shots to Carolina?!!). Would have been nice to see him not get burned on back-to-back shootout moves, but Rask and Lindholm both made grade-A moves, so can’t really blame Picks. Pickard did his job tonight, he just didn’t get enough help.

2. Ditch the old recipe. Last time the Avalanche played the Canes, they fell behind by two goals, and were forced to rally. The Avs managed to come back and win 4-3 on a late game-winner by Zach Redmond. Well, Redmond likely won’t be there to save the day this time around. The Avalanche didn’t play great early against the Caps, and were unable to pull off the late game comeback. Put that recipe of slow starts in the trash. The Avalanche need something quick and easy too cook up tonight. I want the Avalanche to eat early against the Canes, and never look back.

FAIL. The Avalanche followed the old recipe exactly. Horrible start. Fell behind by two goals. Zach Redmond wasn’t around to save the day.

3. Score goals. I’m going to dazzle y’all with a little brilliant insight. The Avalanche need to get the goals flowing to win the game. They have had inconsistent efforts on the offensive end of late, and it’s no coincidence that they are winning when they score. In their last 17 games, the Avs are 6-1-0 when they score 3 or more goals. On the flip side, they are 3-5-2 when they score 2 or fewer. The Avs have also been shutout 3 times over that stretch. Believe it or not, they are yet to win when they are shutout. Pretty simple stuff. Their highly drafted, highly paid forwards, need to start scoring if this team wants to make the playoffs.

FAIL. Avs failed to score 3 goals, and aside from Duchene their big guys came up empty.