Avalanche lose another third period lead, fall to Columbus 4-3

WHERE/WHEN

October 24, 2015 Game 7
Pepsi Center Denver, CO

HIGHLIGHTS

Coming into the tonight’s game against the winless Columbus Blue Jackets, the Colorado Avalanche were looking at an increasingly large mountain to climb in the Central Division after just six games. They got off to the kind of start they needed before getting to the road-heavy portion of their schedule as former Blue Jacket Jack Skille beat Cody Goloubef entering the offensive zone and then potted perfect shot behind netminder Sergei Bobrovsky.

Columbus tied the game when John Mitchell made an errant pass to Nick Holden, who was unable to handle the puck and lost a foot race to Blue Jackets forward Boone Jenner and Jenner beat Semyon Varlamov for a goal Varlamov would very much like to have back to make it 1-1.

Columbus would jump into the lead five minutes later as Jenner got his second of the game, this time on a power play which was the result of an extremely dubious hooking call on Mikhail Grigorenko. Columbus would enter the first intermission ahead 2-1.

Colorado came out in the second and leveled the game just 1:43 into the period as Matt Duchene made an excellent breakout pass from to Blake Comeau, who dropped it to Jarome Iginla entering the Columbus zone. Iginla did what Iginla does, scoring his 592nd career goal to tie the game at 2-2.

A Columbus response was weathered and the Avalanche would take a 3-2 lead after Nathan MacKinnon scored a power play goal into a mostly empty net after an great cross-ice pass from Iginla. The defensive effort by the Avs in the second should be noted as Columbus went 10:49 without registering a shot on goal.

Heavy Columbus pressure early in the third period allowed them to tie the game at 3-3 on a goal from Ryan Murray. I wouldn’t take them long to keep building towards their first win of the season as Brandon Dubinsky scored on a juicy rebound off Varlamov to make it 4-3 just 6:43 into the period.

THREE STARS

1. Booner Jenner – 2 goals
2. Ryan Murray – game-winning goal, 1 assist
3. Jarome Iginla – 1 goal, 1 assist

PLAY OF THE GAME

TURNING POINT

BY THE NUMBERS

QUOTE OF THE GAME

“We had chances at the end to tie the game. I thought we did a good job defensively. I know they scored four goals but I thought we did a good job. We didn’t give that many scoring chances. If we keep going like this and manage our game better, I’m very confident we’re going to win our share of games” -Head Coach Patrick Roy

LASTING IMPACT

The Avs dropped to 2-4-1 on the season, maintaining their last place position in the Central Division. They currently sit four points behind sixth place Winnipeg and eight points behind Nashville.

WHAT’S NEXT

After five home games in their first seven of the season, the Avalanche take to the road for their second road trip of the season as they head out east to take on the Florida Panthers in Miami on Wednesday, October 27th.