The Colorado Avalanche saw their franchise-best shutout streak and then 10-game winning streak both end today in a matinee contest against the Minnesota Wild. It was a 3-2 final score as the Wild scored twice to just once by the Avalanche in the shootout, a format they seem destined to be awful at with this roster.
Nathan MacKinnon got the Avalanche on the board first after Artturi Lehkonen outworked two Wild players and chipped a puck to him and MacKinnon slapped it past Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt.
This was a game of two teams coming in on substantial winning streaks, the Avs at 10 and the Wild at six, but also goaltenders who have been excellent in the month of November. Both Wallstedt and Avalanche starter Scott Wedgewood have been among the top ten goaltenders this month (as has Mackenzie Blackwood after his back-to-back shutouts), but Wallstedt outdueled Wedgewood to give the Avs just their second loss of November.
Colorado controlled play for long stretches, but couldn’t cash in beyond the MacKinnon goal. Once the Wild sunk their teeth in and got going, they took over the game and two Kirill Kaprizov goals gave the Wild the lead going into the third period.
That lead didn’t last as the best third-period team in the NHL fought back and Gabe Landeskog scored the game-tying goal where you got to see everything that makes Landeskog integral on the ice. Toughness, physicality, and a little bit of finish at the end. It was a huge goal and got the Avalanche into overtime.
Ultimately, Scott Wedgewood stopped just one of two shootout attempts and that little bit of ground that he gave was just enough for the Wild to get across the finish line and continue their winning streak as Colorado’s ends.
Record shutout streak ends
Three consecutive shutouts paced the Avalanche as they struggled greatly last weekend against Nashville and Chicago but their goaltending elevated them to preserve their winning streak. Both Wedgewood and Blackwood recorded shutouts and then Blackwood kept it going with a shutout in Colorado’s 6-0 destruction of the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.
You knew it was going to end eventually, and today was the day when Kaprizov’s left skate deflected a centering pass into the net, ending the franchise-record shutout streak at 221:42. The previous record was set in November of 2001 and was 192:39.
It was an unfortunate way to see the streak end, but Kaprizov really put the punctuation mark on the fun being over when he took a Ryan Hartman centering feed and one-timed it home. That was a cool goal, but the first one was a grimy one to end the streak. That’s hockey.
Avalanche winning streak ends behind quiet offense
Coming into the game, the Avs were leading the league in scoring, both in raw totals and per game. They were miles ahead of the rest of the league, so it was inevitable that they would go quiet for a few games. After scoring just one goal against a goaltender in each game over last weekend, the Avs exploded for their six-goal outburst against San Jose and it seemed like maybe that lull was over, but alas.
Running into Wallstedt, who is doing his best to unseat Filip Gustavasson from the starter’s net in Minnesota, was just a bit too much for the Avalanche offense today. The big Swedish goaltender was tested often today and the Avalanche managed just two goals on 41 shots.
We’ve seen some great goaltending performances against the Avs this season (Spencer Knight of Chicago was awesome last weekend), but for my money, this was the most impressive. Wedgewood was awesome on the other side himself, but someone finally outplayed him.
