DENVER — Hurtful. Heartbreaking. Disappointing.
There weren’t enough adjectives from the Avalanche to describe Wednesday’s 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild. Afterall, first place in the Central Division was on the line. And the Avs, having battled for months to get back to the top of the division, had a chance to jump ahead of the redhot Wild with a victory. Instead, mistakes were made and the advantageous road team made Colorado pay at Ball Arena.
“It hurts. It hurts. And we should remember that feeling because I think we’re gonna run into them again here down the line,” forward Lars Eller said, trying to collect his thoughts after the gut-wrenching loss.
Minnesota wasn’t the better team all night, but it took advantage of multiple bad turnovers from the Avs early. It was enough to build a two-goal lead and rely on goalie Filip Gustavsson — who entered the game with a .932 save percentage — the rest of the way.
“I don’t know when but when we do we’re gonna remember tonight and we’re gonna have a response next time we play them,” Eller continued. “That’s kind of what’s in my head right now.”
Head coach Jared Bednar felt the team didn’t have the same jump as the Wild did in the early stages. Ultimately, it was a game where everyone needed to bring their best efforts but that simply wasn’t the case.
“As a group, as a whole, to start the game, they were more competitive than we were,” Bednar said. “I felt like we had some passengers for the first period-plus and when you’re playing a game like this, like a playoff-style game, you can’t have passengers.”
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While superstars Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen each finished without a point and were minus-3, Bednar felt his top players were engaged. He reiterated it wasn’t them that he had an issue with — but he also didn’t specify who he was referencing.
“Our top guys know how much we lean on them. I thought they played hard tonight,” he said. “It wasn’t our top guys that I was concerned about.”
Bowen Byram and Eller had the goals for Colorado, which outshot the Wild 44-29, including a 19-4 advantage in the third period. Avs goalie Alexandar Georgiev stopped 25-of-28 shots before Minnesota added a shorthanded empty netter to seal the victory. The Avalanche dropped to 44-24-6, trailing the Minnesota Wild by three points for the top spot in the division with a game in hand. The Avs fell to third following the loss behind the Dallas Stars, who are tied with them in points (94) but hold the tiebreaker.
Colorado hosts the Stars on Saturday
“We got to talk about it, learn from it, and then we gotta be better on Saturday. It’s important,” Bednar said.
Marcus Johansson opened the scoring for Minnesota on a rare turnover from Georgiev just 3:24 into the game. But after both teams exchanged penalties, Byram exited the penalty box, picked up the loose puck that was cleared by teammate Jack Johnson, and beat goalie Filip Gustavsson on the breakaway. Byram’s tally was his 10th of the season and fifth in his last 10 games.
“He’s been a guy, again, drop of the puck tonight, he’s ready to go,” Bednar said of Byram. “Doing everything he can. he doesn’t get comfortable or complacent regardless of the time and score of the game, he’s playing to win.”
Sam Steel added another for Minnesota before the break to give them a 2-1 lead. In the second, the Wild took advantage of what Bednar called a bad read by Makar on the power play. Makar gave up the blueline to Frederick Gaudreau, who came in on a breakaway and beat Georgiev with his first of two shorthanded tallies to make it 3-1.
The Avs were unable to capitalize on neither that man advantage or the other three opportunities they had, effectively ending their streak of 12 consecutive games with a power-play goal. Eller eventually scored to make it a one-goal game in the third period.
