Avs fall apart late in overtime loss to Predators

Fresh off a destruction of their biggest rival, the Colorado Avalanche welcomed in their very own cooler in the Nashville Predators on Sunday afternoon. Having lost eight straight to Nashville, dating back to 2016, this was essentially the last team in the NHL the Avalanche were hoping to see in their attempt to make the postseason.

Things started off the way you’d expect given how this series has unfolded the last two years with the Predators jumping all over the Avs early on and keeping them hemmed in their own zone.

The sustained pressure when the fourth lines were matched up and Austin Watson fired a puck that went off the chest of Anton Lindholm and past goaltender Semyon Varlamov to give Nashville the 1-0 just 3:09 into the first.

Nashville continued laying the pressure on the Avs until Colorado finally found its own legs and began pushing back in earnest. The ice quickly tilted and as Nikita Zadorov was exiting the penalty box, strong board work from Carl Soderberg and a quick stick from Lindholm helped put Zadorov on a breakaway of sorts. Knowing he was running out of real estate, Zadorov fired a half slap shot that beat goaltender Pekka Rinne on the short side. The goal, Zadorov’s sixth of the season, tied the game with 7:03 left in the first period.

The second period started with the Avs leaning on Nashville ever so slightly after a Ryan Hartman penalty gave Colorado the man advantage. They didn’t score on it but were gaining momentum from it and Colorado’s top line generated what should have been a goal but Mikko Rantanen missed the open net, keeping the game tied.

A Gabe Landeskog penalty a few minutes later put Nashville on the power play and despite heavy puck pressure by the Avalanche, they worked the puck around to an open Kyle Turris, whose one-timer was flubbed but the unexpected slow speed of the shot caused Varlamov to overslide the play and Nashville took the 2-1 lead.

The teams would trade chances and penalties the rest of the second period, neither finding any payoff and ultimately entering the game’s final frame with Nashville maintaining it’s one-goal lead.

The hockey gods would even the puck luck goals when Carl Soderberg and Matt Nieto broke in on a two-on-one and Nieto’s shot was initially stopped by Rinne before bouncing up and landing in the crease. Once there, Kevin Fiala’s attempt to corral the puck resulted in him accidentally putting it into his own net and suddenly the game was tied at 2-2.

A Carl Soderberg-drawn penalty gave the Avalanche a power play with right about six minutes remaining in the game and the Avalanche turned to their big guns to get it done. Barrie to MacKinnon to Rantanen to twine and the Avalanche had the 3-2 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the game.

A frantic final 90 seconds saw Nashville pull Rinne in favor of the extra attacker and Ryan Ellis blasted a one-timer past Varlamov with just 1:06 remaining in the game to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Once there, each team had a possession before Filip Forsberg came down the right side with the puck and as he neared the goal line tossed what should have been a harmless puck on net but Varlamov was apparently on another planet mentally and it slipped past him for the softest overtime goal imaginable, betraying all the other good work done by the Avalanche and handing Nashville the crucial second point on the night.

The win was Nashville’s ninth consecutive over the Avalanche.