The Avs had an opportunity to be the first team to 50 points tonight, but ultimately, they drop their second loss of the road trip in the shootout to the Nashville Predators 4-3, finishing their east coast trip 2-1-1.

Brock Nelson starts out the scoring with a beautiful deke and a shot that cracks Jusse Saros early. Unfortunately, Scott Wedgewood, in his first game back has a few not-so-good bounces that lead to goals. Jonathan Marchessault capitalizes on a poorly-tracked puck, and Reid Schaefer catches a stagnant Wedgewood to find the league.

Artturi Lehkonen keeps the Avs from heading into the first intermission down and ties it up to make it 2-2 heading into the second period.

A second period that ends scoreless, a ‘no goals’ commercial come to life. The Avs drew a few power plays, but nothing comes of them, and they head into the third on a split power play.

The third period goes scoreless until just above the seven-minute mark. Wedgewood looks much better in this period, making the first initial saves, but the Preds get it back out high and Brady Skjei finds a lane through traffic (thanks to an unfortunate screen from Sam Malinski) to put Nashville back in the lead.

Fear not, with eight seconds left, Cale Makar finds his first goal on the power play in a while, and they grab a point out of a game that they maybe didn’t deserve to.

Overtime is scoreless, but Ryan O’Reilly scores first in the shootout, and he’ll be the lone shootout scorer to push Nashville to win 4-3.

Wedgewood’s poor first period back

I think he picked up his performance as the game went on, and there’s certainly a conversation to be had about defensive coverage…

But as far as routine saves go, seems like the two Nashville scored in the first were fairly textbook.

And I get it, right. This is Wedgewood’s first game back since his injury (back tightness per Coach Jared Bednar). Totally fine, especially considering he earned this game back a bit with his performance in the third period. But if you track the puck on the first goal better and lateral movement isn’t nonexistent on the second goal, this game is infinitely easier for the Avs.

Doesn’t help that concussion spotters pull him after Filip Forsberg’s shootout attempt… So, the Avs may have another Wedgewood injury to worry about.

The time for a serious power play conversation is now

It has to be, right?

I mean, Cale Makar finally getting his first power play goal since April 3rd, 2025 is an accomplishment, sure. That’s also a goal at 6-on-4, so I’m not counting that one (as pretty as it might be).

This game has an entirely different identity if the Avs can convert on one of the three 5-on-4 opportunities they had in the second period.

I’m not even sure what has to change, except for maybe putting more than just seven shots on goal in six minutes of having a man-advantage.

Ultimately, it’s the power play that saves them, but with the third-period lull, you have to get more out of your units in a game like this.

Avs postgame pod