Avalanche winning streaks end in shootout loss to Coyotes

Sports gambling has taken hold of the entire sporting world in part because of the thrill of trying to predict the future in the notoriously unpredictable world of games.

Tonight’s Avalanche loss to the Arizona Coyotes was one that saw the crumbling of countless parlays and the end of two lengthy streaks, 18 straight at home and 10 straight overall.

It wasn’t as if the Avalanche simply no-showed on the game and didn’t put any work into it. They outshot the Coyotes 40-24 and even killed a penalty in overtime. Hell, the much-maligned penalty kill finished the night a perfect three-for-three.

The Coyotes scored just one goal at 5v5 to tie the game at 1-1 and then capitalized on a 6v5 with just under 40 seconds remaining to tie the game at 2-2.

Colorado didn’t execute down the stretch with Devon Toews finding the post on a breakaway with just over two minutes remaining and then failing to score at all in the shootout. The Coyotes scored got one goal in the shootout from Alex Galchenyuk and that was enough to get them across the finish line in one of the bigger regular-season gambling upsets in recent NHL history.

Hell, it was a weird enough night that the story of the postgame was Gabe Landeskog comparing winning to the feeling one has after doing drugs.

The disappointment from the Avalanche side (and from Coyotes management, if we’re being honest) is that Arizona walked out with two points and Colorado just the one.

Given the overall picture of 2022 in which the Avalanche have compiled a 15-0-2 record, it’s hard to feel too bad about the outcome. Colorado just finished the most aggressive portion of their schedule (17 games in 32 days) by accumulating 32 of a possible 34 points in the standings.

Colorado enters the All-Star break with an eight-point lead on the Nashville Predators while maintaining two games in hand. They are second in the NHL in points (68 to Florida’s 69) but number one in points percentage (.773).

Tonight’s loss was another in a disappointing trend of the Avs playing down to their opponents and blowing leads, but when the endgame is to win and gain ground in the standings, nobody has done it better than the Avs over the last 32 days.

That may not be heartening to some people after watching Colorado blow a game to the team trying its hardest not to win games this season, but it’s just the reality. The players for the Coyotes are playing for jobs either in Arizona moving forward or for other teams who might want to acquire them at the upcoming trade deadline.

There’s still skin in the game for those guys and nobody showed that better than Scott Wedgewood, who stopped 38 of 40 shots and was perfect in the shootout.

Sometimes, you just tip your cap to a team that made one more play at the end of the game. That was the case tonight as the Avs had plenty of chances and couldn’t seal the deal. They’ve teetered on the brink of losing several times and found their way. The reality is they were long overdue for this outcome.

No doubt it feels bad to see such impressive streaks come to an end against such a lowly opponent, but any team in the NHL would be thrilled to go 89 days in between losses at home.

Tonight’s game is a good example of balancing the micro versus the macro. Micro perspective, you’re unhappy with Colorado’s ability to close against a truly dreadful hockey team and they casually lost out on a second point they might really want at the end of the year. Macro-wise, it’s fine. They’ve built a huge lead in the division already and are in the driver’s seat for the West’s top seed in the postseason.

Heading into the All-Star break, that’s about as good a position as you could reasonably ask a team to be in.

TAKEAWAYS

• Would have loved to see a better night from Cale Makar. He’s been very human the last few weeks. This isn’t a criticism, mind you, just saying that with no Nathan MacKinnon you’d love to see him step up and into the bus driver role himself. Keep nights like this in mind when people try to argue that Makar has dethroned MacKinnon as Colorado’s best player because I don’t think the game-to-game consistency is there yet. MacKinnon is a difference-maker nine games out of ten. Makar is still trying to find his way there (albeit a harder task being a defenseman with very different responsibilities). It was Makar’s guy in front who got the game-tying goal. Just one more play from Makar and it’s probably game over. That’s hockey, though.
• I know Arizona is hurting for talent in the shootout but Clayton Keller is now 2-for-18 in his career. What is the appeal of running him out there still? On the other side, smart by Andre Tourigny to utilize Alex Galchenyuk, who has around a 40% success rate in the shootout, in the skills competition. That’s one area where Galchenyuk has always operated at a high level. He was the difference in the shootout tonight.
• I have no issues with the three players Jared Bednar chose in the shootout but my morbid curiosity at how Makar would do in the format will persist until we see it a couple of times. Maybe he’s secretly terrible at it and we just don’t know.
• Don’t have any kind of analysis, just to say that I really like the groove Darcy Kuemper has settled into. He looks so in control and he’s not getting beaten cleanly by guys like he was early in the season. It’s taking odd bounces and great screens to slip pucks past him. Avs goaltending is in a healthy place right now, even at the AHL level where Justus Annunen continues to get better and better.