Wild Hold First Place As Avalanche Fall Short

The Colorado Avalanche had one of the best chances last night to take over first place in the Central Division. They played the first-place Minnesota Wild, who led the Avalanche by one point. If The Avalanche won the game it would put them in first place despite all the injuries this year. One of those injuries is to captain Gabriel Landeskog, who has yet to have played a single game. It was a playoff vibe in the arena, but the Avalanche were unable to pull it out. The Wild hold first place as the Avalanche fall short.

First Period

In a period that started off like it was a playoff game, Colorado and Minnesota would not disappoint. The scoring started only about three and a half minutes into the period. The Wild dumped the puck in and goaltender Alexandar Georgiev never saw Marcus Johansson as he tried to send the puck the other way. Johansson would send it up top and set the play up and roll right in front of the net untouched. Someone should have been yelling to Georgiev which way to clear the puck, it was a breakdown in communication. A penalty would send Bowen Byram to the box about five minutes later and Colorado would kill it off. As Byram came out J.T. Compher chipped it out of the zone to Byram for the breakaway and he buried it to tie it up. 

Wild Battle Back

With four minutes left in the first, Minnesota had possession and started to cycle the puck. Ryan Hartman got the puck up at the point and sent it over to the opposite side to John Klingberg. The defenseman snapped it down low into the feet of Samuel Girard and Sam Steel.  He kicked off of his foot to his backhand and past Georgiev. There was not enough pressure on the points to break up the play to avoid it from getting down low in the first place.

Second Period

The momentum was clearly with the Wild at the beginning of the period. During the first two shifts, Colorado could not get out of their own zone. The only time that the Avalanche would see the penalty box in the period would be the worst two minutes for them. Logan O’Connor would go off for a trip and the Avalanche could not put anything together. Nathan MacKinnon walked in and got a shot on the net that bounced out to the blue line. Cale Makar was unable to corral the puck and Frederick Gaudreau took off unopposed to get the Wild up 3-1. 

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Third Period

You can’t say that the Avalanche lack of scoring in the period was not trying. Colorado outshot Minnesota 19-4 in the period. The Avalanche would hardly allow any chances for the Wild, but the key moment was with about six minutes left. Compher rushed into the zone and passed to Girard. Girard sauced it over to Devon Toews, who took a shot with Lars Eller crashing the net. Eller was able to tip it past goaltender Filip Gustavsson to get Colorado down 2-3. Minnesota would escape what could have been the turning point of the game as they were called for too many men and it was reversed. Two minutes later, Minnesota was called for a delay of game and Colorado had already pulled Georgiev for the extra attacker. Gaudreau was able to flip it down the ice for the nail in the coffin to make it 4-2.

Conclusion

The Avalanche did not seem like they were all in the game at the beginning. Coach Jared Bednar was quoted as saying “We had some passengers for the first period-plus” according to Kyle Fredrickson of the Denver Gazette. Colorado was not spreading out their offense as well. They were primarily taking their shots from the slot, where the goalie could easily see them. By losing the game last night, the Avalanche fall to three points behind the Wild in the standings. Colorado does have a game in hand on Minnesota and they have the most favorable schedule in the league. So, there is a chance the Avalanche could catch up.