The Avalanche needed to regroup from a slump for the first time in weeks, after stamping an unsavory place for themselves in franchise history. They only had 24 hours to do so.
After allowing seven goals in back-to-back games, the Avs tightened the screws on defense Sunday night but couldn’t complete the triumphant rebound, losing 3-2 in overtime to the Kraken. Brandon Tanev scored with 2:30 remaining in regulation to tie the game and undo Colorado’s extraordinary effort to hold the lead for most of a tense third period.
It started with the Avalanche (34-21-6) leading 2-1 but forced to defend a full, two-minute 5-on-3. Alexandar Georgiev made seven of his 32 saves during the penalty kill, and the defensive dynamo of Cale Makar and Devon Toews stayed on the ice for the entire two minutes. The Avs killed another penalty four minutes later, but Seattle tied it at 5-on-5 and ended it early in 3-on-3 overtime. Yanni Gourde potted the winner.
“You kill the 5-on-3, it’s hard. It tilts the ice a little bit,” forward Andrew Cogliano said. “It puts guys in playing more minutes than they should. It keeps our best players on the bench. And obviously that was a little momentum for them.”
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar saw the shifting dynamic of the 5-on-3 differently.
“I thought we’re the team that should get life out of that,” he said. “… Georgi was our best penalty killer. But we did a decent job. I thought we gave up one or two high-danger (chances) there. Did a nice job getting sticks on some pucks. … So that’s a huge kill, right? You’ve got a big moment in the game on fresh ice. To be able to kill that off should give your team momentum, and it just took a while for us.”
Colorado’s previous two games were characterized by defensive-zone turnovers and lackadaisical, costly errors. It was only the second time the Avalanche allowed 14 goals in a two-game stretch since moving to Denver. The most recent was Feb. 12-14, 2011. The last time the franchise had allowed more than 14 over a two-game stretch was Nov. 10-12, 1991, vs. Washington (10) and Hartford (5).
Both those teams — one Avalanche, one Nordiques — finished significantly below .500.
This Avalanche team had a chance to climb back into third place in the Central with a win but instead they’re tied for that position with Winnipeg.
“I felt like we had a lot better effort. Played to our strengths tonight rather than last night, so just a step in the right direction,” Makar said. “You want to get both points. Just going to make our job harder at the end of the year.”
Denis Malgin scored his fourth goal in the past 10 games to hand Colorado a 2-1 lead in the second period, two minutes after Alex Wennberg tied it for Seattle. Makar, in his second game back from a concussion, made a pinpoint pass out of the defensive zone to give Malgin a breakaway. He converted on Philipp Grubauer’s glove side.
Meanwhile, Georgiev turned aside two Seattle breakaways in the period to cover for the Avalanche’s rare defensive lapses. The first period had been more low-event hockey with poor puck management by both teams. Nathan MacKinnon provided the only breakthrough of the opening 20 minutes with a nifty cutback move to score his 11th goal in as many games.
He has been the Avalanche’s most electrifying player since the NHL All-star break (and really since his return from injury on New Year’s Eve). But he made the rare fatal gaffe that led to Seattle’s equalizing goal, giving away the puck behind his own net.
“It was tough sledding tonight — energy-wise, mentally looked like we were fried,” Bednar said. “I didn’t think our top guys had a very good night at all. Some of the guys further down the lineup played well.”
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