Avalanche winning streak comes to a controversial end in Nashville

There are lots of truths to be told after Colorado’s five-game winning streak came to an end tonight in Nashville in a 5-4 overtime loss. Let’s just start there and see where we end up.

One of the truths is that the too-many-men penalty called on the Avalanche in the extra session appears to have no basis in reality. Also true is that Colorado’s horrid penalty kill once again could not rise to the occasion and gave up two more goals tonight, one in the third period and one in overtime.

Another truth is that this version of Darcy Kuemper just isn’t good enough. I’m not going to delve into the slapfight of blame on individual goals and just stick with saying Kuemper’s play was once again just not good enough. His win-loss record is spectacular but he’s getting the kind of goal support goalies usually can only dream of.

Kuemper has seven wins and now overtime loss in games in which he’s given up three or more goals this year. The reality is that Colorado’s elite offense has papered over some of Kuemper’s problems.

More truth is that Colorado’s PK is not experiencing “growing pains” as head coach Jared Bednar called them after the game. That would suggest actual growth, and the PK has somehow gotten worse in the last week and that unit’s inability to get out of a game cleanly absolutely cost it tonight.

Even more truth is that Colorado having to come back from another deficit for the sixth straight game since returning from the COVID Christmas pause is not an acceptable trend for a group this talented. It’s been encouraging to see them storm back and win all the other games and they certainly had their chances tonight, too, but playing from behind might be Kodak Black’s bag but isn’t a formula for consistently winning games in the NHL.

So, the feels are complicated tonight. On the second night of a back-to-back where they traveled from Denver to Nashville and the Predators spent the weekend hanging out at home waiting for the Avs, Colorado came back from deficits of 2-0, 3-2, and 4-3 to sneak a point against the Central Division-leading Predators.

The Predators extended that lead to three points tonight, but Colorado sits with four games in hand so it’s pretty reasonable to think Nashville may not be atop the division too much longer as the Avs make up lost games on the schedule.

For tonight, however, Nashville breathes a sigh of relief. It doesn’t matter that the two games they’ve beaten in Colorado have been with the Avs at the disadvantage because that’s just how life is. You have to make what you can of every situation and the Preds don’t have to apologize for their head-to-head success against Colorado. They’ve taken care of business on home ice.

Back to Colorado’s perspective, however, and you struggle to feel too badly about this. The most troubling part of today, other than the reality that an actual NHL referee who has officiated more than 800 NHL games can’t count to three, is that Bowen Byram requested a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons and Bednar said after the game there is no timeline on his return. It’s irresponsible to speculate about what might be going on so we’ll just say we’re back to waiting and seeing what’s going on with Byram, who just cannot get into any kind of a rhythm so far in his NHL career.

As far as the game was concerned, it was a night of stars doing their thing. Former friend of the show Matt Duchene had Nashville’s last two goals while Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar polished off Colorado’s frantic comeback attempt. Lots of highlights were created.

The winning streak over, Colorado has the next two days off to regroup before they have another back-to-back this weekend in a home-and-home series with the Arizona Coyotes. If they’re going to catch the Preds, winning both games against the dreadful Coyotes is a good place to start a new streak.

TAKEAWAYS

• I’ll start with the star stuff. I thought MacKinnon was awful tonight right up until he ripped that one-timer behind Juuse Saros to tie the game at 3-3. I love when players are struggling and come up with huge moments like that. Short memories are vital for high-end players and MacKinnon didn’t let a poor night keep him from getting his when his team needed something.
• The same is true for Cale Makar, though I didn’t think he was struggling nearly as much as MacKinnon was. His confidence is about as high as his skill level right now and seeing them intersect as they are is producing an incredible highlight reel just from the last week of games.
• I’m always keeping an eye on the fringe guys so you knew I was going to say something about Mikhail Maltsev. I thought it was very interesting that he was on the ice late in the third period. It wasn’t a long shift but he made a nice move and had a legit scoring chance. All of that was good but not burying it is what holds a guy back from demanding more opportunity. As we’ve seen throughout Tyson Jost’s career, creating chances is all good and well but you have to be able to finish them to pull yourself off the fringes of the roster.
• Two more points for Nazem Kadri. The NHL is slated to release its All-Star teams this Thursday night and I am fascinated to know what happens with the Avs. Based on the last fan poll, Nathan MacKinnon was trending to make the team and Kadri wasn’t. If Makar and MacKinnon end up making it, would the league really leave its fourth-leading scorer off the roster? Just curious how it will go.
• I have no idea what’s going on with the PK. All six Avs defensemen got time on it tonight. It looked passable at times and similarly atrocious at other times. It is, in my eyes, Colorado’s biggest problem right now.