The injury-riddled Avalanche erased another two-goal deficit Saturday. But unlike Friday, so did the Anaheim Ducks.

Colorado rallied from a two-goal deficit before surrendering a two-goal lead of its own in regulation and falling 5-4 to Anaheim in overtime at Ball Arena.

Both the tying goal and the overtime winner for the Ducks were scored on the man-advantage, including Ryan Getzlaf’s 4-on-3 tally 1:59 into OT. Colorado was 0-for-2 on the penalty kill despite entering the game with the league’s best penalty kill (89.2 percent).

Avs backup goalie Hunter Miska struggled to keep the Avs ahead, surrendered three goals on the final six shots he faced.

“We could’ve used a save on one of those two at the end,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “But to be fair, I don’t like taking a penalty leading late in the game 200 feet away from our net, either.”

Avs forward Andre Burakovsky’s high-sticking call, which came deep in Anaheim’s zone with 4:18 remaining, was the call that led to the Ducks tying goal. Avs forward Mikko Rantanen was called for tripping in overtime.

Colorado native Troy Terry scored his second of the game to pull the Ducks within a goal 2:39 before the Burakovsky penalty. And the Ducks rode that momentum to a game-tying marker.

“I put my stick in his shin pads. I think I didn’t slash him that hard to make him fall but he made a nice play and fell down,” Rantanen said of his penalty in overtime. “The referees don’t know that so it’s obviously a penalty. It cost us big time so you can’t really do that.”

J.T. Compher (upper-body) was added to an Avalanche injury list that includes Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Bo Byram, Matt Calvert, Erik Johnson and Pavel Francouz.

Compher was replaced in the lineup by Jayson Megna, who started the game centering the third line flanked by wingers Joonas Donskoi and Brandon Saad.

Another slow Avalanche start was the catalyst in falling behind 2-0 for the second consecutive night. Colorado has scored the first goal in 15-of-22 games this season but was unable to do it at home against the worst team in the West Division.

“I didn’t like our start yesterday and I didn’t like our start again today,” Bednar said. “At some point early in the second period we really got going and then we really started to play and turned the tables on them.”

Colorado (13-7-2) began the third period strong. On Friday, both teams were scoreless in the final full-frame before overtime. But in the second game of the series, the Avs quickly scored twice to build a 4-2 lead after Rantanen and Saad scored 23 seconds apart.

Rantanen had two goals and forward Logan O’Connor scored the first of Colorado’s four straight after falling behind 2-0.

Before Terry’s second goal, Avs forward Tyson Jost had a golden opportunity on a 2-on-1 rush to put Colorado back up by two goals but was robbed by goalie Ryan Miller.

Jost once again was stopped by the veteran backup, this time while shorthanded.

“If we get one of those it’s probably game over,” Bednar said.

Girard’s century mark. Sam Girard recorded his 100th and 101st career point. The 22-year-old defenseman recorded the primary assist on both Rantanen goals.

The homestand continues. Colorado has seven more games remaining on its longest homestand in team history. The Avs welcome the Arizona Coyotes on Monday for two games in three nights.

 

 

 

 

 

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FIRST MIKKO QUOTE – THE PENALTY

O’CONNOR – 1:35 TROY TERRY CLASSMATE FRIENDSHIP

Bednar:

first quote: why team started slow again
second quote: the Val/Mikko/Landy line
third quote: Comphe