Avalanche blow another chance to inch closer to playoffs

With the universe looking out for the Colorado Avalanche on their off days this week, it was not difficult to imagine tonight’s final regular season road game being something pretty special. The Avs were looking to put a vice grip on the final playoff spot and the San Jose Sharks were trying to hold off the hard-charging Los Angeles Kings for home-ice advantage in the first round. All the elements were there for two desperate teams to engage in a heavyweight battle to remember.

And then the game actually started.

It was all San Jose early on as the Avalanche pulled their typical sleepy road team routine. Predictably, it cost them, although the universe went turncoat in order to make it happen. What looked like it was going to be a harmless slap shot from the point by Justin Braun turned into a game-changing moment when Gabriel Bourque worked far too hard to block the shot by stretching out and getting his foot in the way. The puck hit Bourque’s toe and took a once-in-a-million change of direction into the far side post and into the net, putting San Jose into the lead.

That lead would hold up for the rest of the first period despite the Avalanche finding their legs and actually getting some offensive zone time. Despite the pressure, Colorado simply couldn’t generate anything that would be confused with a dangerous scoring chance and the Sharks took their lead into a first intermission.

The second period could have used a jolt of life as the non-existent energy in the building carried over onto the ice. San Jose got a power play and peppered Jonathan Bernier with shots but he stood tall and denied all attempts. The rest of the period followed the same sleepy pattern as the first as the Avalanche found their mojo late but couldn’t score and the game entered the third period with San Jose leading 1-0.

Given such a slow contest to that point, it wasn’t all that surprising when things jumped off in the other direction as the teams opened it up a bit more and started creating some chances. That kind of hockey naturally lends itself to mistakes, which means penalties and power plays that follow.

On their first opportunity of the game, the Avalanche finally broke through on the scoreboard when the team’s horses pulled them even when Mikko Rantanen sniped one past a diving Martin Jones.

The 1-1 tie lasted all of 1:17 as Blake Comeau took a penalty on the immediate shift after Rantanen’s goal. San Jose’s power play capitalized when Kevin Labanc made a smooth pass to Logan Couture, who put it past Bernier and restored the one-goal advantage for the Sharks with exactly 14 minutes left to play.

The flurry of goals seemed to energize exactly one of the teams and the Sharks just kept attacking the Avalanche and it paid off quickly in a sequence where Bernier had lost his stick. On a shift the Avs were thoroughly outworked, Joonas Donskoi was able to fight for the puck in front of the net and beat Nikita Zadorov and slide the puck past Bernier’s pad, making it 3-1 and putting the proverbial dagger in the Avalanche at the 10:14 mark.

Now down two, the Avalanche pushed back in a way nobody saw coming. Following a strong cycle, David Warsofsky fired the puck from the blueline and Comeau atoned for his penalty earlier by deflecting the puck in and giving the game a new look with a 3-2 score.

The Avalanche would push hard to tie the game but ultimately it wasn’t to be and the Avalanche fell just short as Jones crushed all hopes of Colorado being able to potentially clinch a playoff spot tomorrow night. An empty-net goal by Tomas Hertl pushed the game to a 4-2 final.

The regulation loss keeps the Avs just one point ahead of the St. Louis Blues, who play tomorrow night in Chicago against the Blackhawks. Should St. Louis win, the Blues will be one point ahead of the Avalanche going into the season finale between the two on Saturday night. The winner will get the joy of taking on the Nashville Predators in the first round.