Avs blow a three-goal lead in ugly loss to Islanders

Okay. Let’s take a deep breath and let it all out.

If doing that resulted in what your neighbors might have concluded was an existential scream, then you probably watched the same Colorado Avalanche game I did tonight.

When a team that is struggling to find its footing early in the year (again) puts itself into position to win a nice bounce-back game after a disappointing loss the night before, it matters. When that team subsequently throws that game into the bin and implodes, well, one could argue it matters even more.

The positives here are the team building a 3-0 lead, Alexandar Georgiev looking very good again, Colorado’s top line finding its mojo despite swapping Evan Rodrigues in for Artturi Lehkonen, Rodrigues getting two goals, the special teams battle going Colorado’s way, and hell, we’ll throw in Alex Newhook getting his first goal of the season.

The negatives? Welllllllllll…

Giving up five straight goals to watch a 3-0 lead disappear into a 5-3 deficit, that same top line that found its scoring touch also played a major role in throwing that lead away as their defensive effort and execution was inexcusably bad, Nathan MacKinnon especially having an awful third period marred by selfishness, laziness, or fatigue (maybe a combination of all three?), Georgiev having a stellar night get washed away and then gives up a weak one to give the Islanders their first lead of the game, giving up 21 (!!) shots in the third period, and Newhook’s goal was nice, but was the goal that made it 5-4 with just 30 seconds remaining. Nice, but potentially meaningless.

How to really unpack all of that? I’m not totally sure, but I’m here to try.

The 3-0 lead was vintage Avs, walking into a second period with the game still knotted at 0-0 and taking over with a quick-strike offense. The Isles looked up nine minutes into the second period and the tie game they were just in was suddenly a three-goal deficit.

Rodrigues scored the first goal on an Avalanche power play, getting back to that 50% clip they’ve hummed along most of this year, and added a new look to what the Avs were trying to do.

An Isles PP was unsuccessful and amid a goal-mouth scramble, Josh Manson blocked a shot and made a nice play to a streaking Mikko Rantanen. On his birthday, Rantanen made no mistake with a laser past Semyon Varlamov’s glove to make it 2-0. Then Rodrigues tipped a MacKinnon floater from the point and it was 3-0.

Bam.

The Avs took control of the game and it was their best players doing it. With their current depth struggles, Colorado is heavily reliant on those guys to get it going. They did.

A defensive zone breakdown late in the period left Noah Dobson alone to walk in with the puck from the point and he blasted a slapshot past Georgiev to get the Isles on the board.

The game entered the third period with the Avs up 3-1 and shots tied at 23 each. This is the situation the Avs were envisioning being a regular occurrence when they invested $30M in their defense. Lean on an excellent puck-moving group to clean pucks out quickly and counterattack. You know, what the Avs were so lethal at doing last year.

It certainly isn’t last year anymore. That defense that should be locking down games late, especially with a multi-goal lead, coughed up 21 shots on goal, including giving Zach Parise what felt like six good wacks at the puck while Georgiev was trying to cover it. Sam Girard, in particular, just stood and watched as Parise went town and eventually poked the puck in.

Once the game got to 3-2, it felt inevitable the Isles would tie it. Major mistakes in their own zone became the norm for the Avs and they played an undisciplined, chaotic brand of hockey that is best described as “bad.”

That bad hockey saw MacKinnon’s line get hemmed into their own zone for what felt like an eternity, giving up shot after shot after shot until Scott Mayfield deflected a Mat Barzal pass off Georgiev’s helmet and into the net.

Tie game.

But only for a moment.

On the ensuing Avalanche possession immediately after the faceoff, Cale Makar lost control of the puck at the Islanders’ blueline and went down. He was livid, insisting he was tripped by Anders Lee. Either way, Lee broke down the ice on the far side as Anthony Beauvillier picked up the puck and bore down on Devon Toews and Georgiev.

Toews played it perfectly, taking away the pass and leaving the shooter to Georgiev. Unfortunately, this is probably the goal you look at Georgiev and say you simply need a save on. Beauvillier beat him cleanly on the short side and the Isles had the 4-3 lead.

Even the empty-net goal was a little comical, in that dark humor sort of way.

Georgiev pulled and the extra attacker on the ice, the puck squirted to Makar high in the zone and he wound up for a one-timer. Who knows what happens if Makar’s stick doesn’t explode in his hands, causing the puck to drift directly to an Islanders player.

The puck got thrown out to center ice, but Makar went chasing after it without a stick and kicked the puck away from Rodrigues, who was also in pursuit but had his stick and appeared on track to be able to gather it in. Instead, the puck ended up perfectly on the stick of Brock Nelson, who scored into the empty net to make it 5-3.

Newhook then scored with 30 seconds remaining. It was his first point of the year and genuinely a great shot. Hopefully it’s the thing that boosts his clearly-lagging confidence and gets him going offensively. If that’s the case, this game ends up being worth the frustration. If nothing changes and Newhook continues to struggle, this was just a night where the Avalanche threw away two points.

They now have a week off to think about it before yet another back-to-back, this time in Finland against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Home cooking should only be a good thing for local boys Lehkonen and Rantanen.