Avs drop 5-4 in shootout loss to Nashville

With news of Juuse Saros’ injury ahead of tonight’s game, there was real concern for a Nashville team that otherwise stacks up well against this Colorado Avalanche team. The match-ups for these two teams throughout this season have been anything but bland.

In December, an already COVID-interrupted season was further disrupted by an uptick in cases throughout the league. Justin Barron had just made his NHL debut the game before in the absence of Devon Toews who was out due to COVID. Nashville was on a six-game win streak entering that contest and an extremely depleted Avalanche roster opted to move forward with playing. Pavel Francouz made an emergency start and the Avs were without Kuemper, Compher, Burakovsky, Makar, and Toews – all in COVID protocol. They lost 5-2.

In January, it was a controversial too-many-men call (there were two back-to-back) against the Avalanche that cost them in the 5-4 OT loss. It was the last time these teams have seen each other since tonight’s game and the last player to score for the Avalanche in this series was no other than Cale Makar. It was a beautiful wrist shot past Juuse Saros. In their first match-up back in November, Mikko Rantanen had a hattrick in the 6-2 win over the Predators, so his return to the lineup tonight carried excitement.

A storyline to watch in tonight’s game that almost goes without saying is the hotly contested Norris Trophy race with Roman Josi and Cale Makar at the forefront. An award that is all about all-around ability has pulled valid arguments for both players. 

Makar’s offensive abilities were on full display two minutes into the first period. Nazem Kadri won the o-zone faceoff on the powerplay and Makar fired a wrist shot through traffic to score his 28th goal of the season. Deadline acquisitions Josh Manson and Artturi Lehkonen have been feeling it both with goals against the Blues and points on the second goal scored tonight. Manson’s wrist shot was tipped in by Lehkonen in the perfect position at the netfront.

The former Avalanche goal-toll was paid at the mid-way point when Matt Duchene buried a long wrist shot from the high slot thanks to a Filip Forsberg screen on Kuemper. To keep with the theme of entertaining hockey, Logan O’Connor kept things interesting – he fished the puck away from three Nashville players and though his initial shot bounced back off of Roman Josi, nobody noticed and he was able to unsuspectingly re-shoot for a goal that surprised everyone.

The first period came to a close with Colorado outshooting Nashville 20-7 and leading 3-1.

Ryan Johansen kept Nashville in this with an early second period goal from Forsberg and it was another one that made its way through a lot of traffic just inside the right-side post. 

Hard work from Darren Helm and Andrew Cogliano ensured the puck found its way to Compher in the slot who beat Rittich over the right shoulder. Though not egregious infractions, Nashville proved a bit undisciplined taking three minor penalties in the first period, three more in the second period, and once more in the third.

Despite their penalty problem, Nashville would just not go away.

It would become a game of weird goals and Norris Trophy fodder with this controversial powerplay goal scored by Roman Josi unassisted at 16:28 when he upended the goal from its moorings in this chaotic sequence. The competitive gap between both teams narrowed and it became a 4-3 game.

Nashville capitalized on building momentum. Four minutes into the third period, Mikael Granlund won the faceoff in the Avs end – he sent it back to Carrier to Ekholm who beat Kuemper glove side with a powerful slapshot. It was a stark contrast from the first period – Nashville overtook the Avalanche in shots this period (though not in totality).

A late-period hooking penalty (albeit a weird hooking call) against Darren Helm gave us all a bit of a fright, but the Avs were able to kill it and force overtime by the skin of their teeth. Given the last overtime between these two teams, there were some nerves on my end.

Overtime was interesting, at one point J.T. Compher, Devon Toews, and Lehkonen had a go (Lehkonen even had a great chance). Nathan MacKinnon played hungry all night but it just didn’t translate into goals. Ultimately, this game would be settled in a shootout. Like poetic injustice, Matt Duchene was the lone scorer in the shootout, but Darcy Kuemper did make important saves against Forsberg and Granlund in what was an otherwise tough game for him.

The Avs played strong first and second periods but didn’t get it done.

Jacob MacDonald and Justus Annunen have already been recalled by the Avalanche in a move that is sure to give even more guys rest tomorrow night. Notably absent tonight was Alex Newhook who was rested tonight as well. It’s a reflection of where this team is at for game 82 tomorrow night against the Minnesota Wild – all sights are set on Playoff Game 1.

Observations:

• The Colorado Eagles finished their regular season last weekend while the rest of the AHL has games through the 30th, so they have a bit of a weird break before their first playoff game next Wednesday. If Jacob MacDonald plays tomorrow, I’ll be glad to see him stay in regular action.
• I hope Ben Meyers gets one last look tomorrow night in something of a homecoming game against Minnesota.
• The point in overtime secured the 119th point of the season, a new franchise record. In that regard, this is now the greatest regular season in Avalanche and Nordiques history.