Colorado Avalanche defense spoils another great start from Wedgwood

The Colorado Avalanche suffered their second overtime loss this season, dropping a tough-luck 4-3 decision at the Delta Center in Utah against the Mammoth.

While the Avalanche technically remain undefeated, in regulation at least, the broader issue is the club wasted another strong start by Scott Wedgewood. The Avalanche netminder made 29 saves and kept his club in the game while the offense figured out the rest.

However, the Avalanche backcheck let Wedgewood down, particularly during the sequence leading to the game-winner.

Check out the goal here:

The goal came in the opening minute of overtime. After losing the puck in the Utah zone, the Mammoth forwards came back with the puck. The play was essentially a 2-on-1 with Cale Makar doing a fantastic job of hindering the play.

However, the Mammoth captain Clayton Keller waited out Makar and slide the puck over to a streaking Dylan Guenther, who managed to deflect the puck past Wedgewood. The replay shows a weak back check from Martin Necas. Had Necas done more to hamper Guenther, he could have broken up the play.

Instead, Guenther had a clear path to the net and buried the game-winner. The other forward on the ice, Nathan MacKinnon, played the zone, neutralizing the pass back to the other Mammoth forward on the ice.

Ultimately, the Avalanche must play better defense in order to give their goalie a chance to win games for them.

Colorado Avalanche defensive miscues led to their downfall

The overtime winner wasn’t the only defensive faux pas that led to goals on Tuesday night. Here’s another poignant example:

The turnover at the Avalanche blue line led to a quick turnaround that Mammoth defenseman Mikhail Sergachev took advantage of for the goal. The careless, sloppy clearing attempt by Artturi Lehkonen could have easily been avoided with a more conscientious move to roll the puck around the boards instead of attempting to clear it with a backhand.

Now, let’s look at another head-shaking example:

In this sequence, a bad play behind the net between Ilya Solovyov and Sam Malinski allowed the Mammoth to recover the puck in the Avalanche zone. Now, Malinski made the right play by heading to the boards to retrieve the puck.

However, Solovyov moved to double-team the Mammoth forward on the play. Instead of covering the front of the net or taking away the passing lane, Solovyov left the ice wide-open. Meanwhile, the Avalanche were on a line change, which also facilitated Nick Schmaltz to waltz in a blast a one-timer past Wedgewood.

Again, had the Avalanche done the responsible thing, the puck would not have ended up in the back of the net. By my reckoning, the Avalanche could have won the game 3-1 instead of facing a 4-3 overtime defeat.

The Avalanche will have some time to think about their miscues ahead of their next matchup against the retro Carolina Hurricanes at Ball Arena on Thursday night.