Presented with a chance to take first place in the Central on Wednesday night at Ball Arena, the Avalanche faltered in the biggest home game of the year.
The Avs turned in a sloppy first period that led to a few players getting called out by coach Jared Bednar for being “passengers” in an eventual 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild that also saw Colorado’s 12-game power play scoring streak snapped.
The result will provide plenty of notes and adjustments for Bednar to put in his back pocket for a potential playoff matchup with the Wild down the line. With only eight games left in the regular season, the Avs would currently face the Dallas Stars in the first round, with the winner possibly meeting Minnesota in the second round.
“(Minnesota is) a hard-working team that’s committed on both sides of it,” Bednar said. “They don’t need a lot of chances to score goals. They’re on a heater now — 16-1-4 — and you can’t make mistakes against this team because they’re capitalizing. They’re shooting above expected (percentage). They’re putting the puck in the net on most of the opportunities they get. So we’ve got to be airtight (if we see them again).”
The Avs stole the Wild’s lunch money in their first two meetings at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, beating Minnesota handily 6-3 on Oct. 17, then pulling out a 3-2 win on Feb. 15 behind Nathan MacKinnon’s game-winning goal.
But it was a different story Wednesday night against the Wild in a playoff atmosphere in Auraria, where Bednar said the Avs “handed them” two of their first three goals.
A sloppy turnover by Alexandar Georgiev led to the Wild’s first goal, then defenseman Samuel Girard got bodied right front of the net, allowing Sam Steel to gain possession and backhand the puck in for a 2-1 first-period lead that negated the momentum from Bo Byram’s breakaway goal.
“This defeat was self-induced,” said Mikko Rantanen, who came up empty in his three shots on goal, including one off the post. “We didn’t create enough to win, and there were a couple key lost battles. I thought we had enough chances to score four goals, but their goalie (Filip Gustavsson) played well.”
While Bednar said he’d have one-on-one talks with those he felt weren’t fully engaged in Wednesday’s loss, Rantanen stressed the Avs “have to move on quick” from this season’s toughest home defeat. Colorado’s currently tied with Dallas in second place in the Central at 94 points, three points back of the Wild. Saturday’s meeting at the American Airlines Center is the last regular season meeting between any of the three top teams.
“It’s another big game on Saturday against Dallas, because they’re right there with us, so we have to keep our heads up,” Rantanen said. “We can’t stay on this feeling too long, even though we’ve got to learn from it.”
The Avs surely hope to have captain Gabriel Landeskog back by the time they see the Wild again. The forward has been out all season recovering from offseason knee surgery, but has started skating again. In the meantime, Colorado bolstered its roster at the trade deadline, most notably adding depth to the middle of the ice with Lars Eller, while Minnesota was extremely active at the deadline, fortifying its roster with veteran blueliner John Klingberg and a handful of other players.
“They made some good adds at the deadline,” Bo Byram said. “They move the puck well, they play heavy. They’re a good team and have been for a while. It’s always fun playing them because it’s always a competitive game. They play hard, they defend, they play physical. It’s a good challenge for us playing them, and we’ll remember this one down the road.”
