Some losses hurt a little bit more than others.
The Colorado Avalanche extended their losing streak to three games with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks, but right now, that may be the least of their concerns. All-Star Nathan MacKinnon left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return, leaving all fans to panic at the loss of the team’s best player. After the game, Jared Bednar was not able to provide any sort of timeline on his return.
In the first game back from the All-Star break, the Avs did not have the best start to the game. A little over 6 minutes into the first period, Tyson Jost turned the puck over at the offensive blueline, and a clear from the Canucks led to a breakaway for Bo Horvat who buried the puck to give the Canucks the early lead. Soon after, Michael Del Zotto floated a shot from the blueline that Jonathan Bernier never appeared to see and the Avs went into the locker room down 2-0.
The second period was almost a complete flip-flop. The Avalanche harnessed momentum from an early power play to get on the board, as J.T. Compher was able to put a rebound in to cut the deficit. Not long after, Gabriel Landeskog scored a flukey goal. The rebound from a Tyson Barrie shot went into the air and managed to hit Landeskog in the chest and bounce in to tie the game up. Nine minutes later, Landeskog scored on the power play to give the Avs the lead heading into the second period.
That lead did not last long. A penalty by Nikita Zadorov, while the Avalanche were already shorthanded, put the Canucks on a two-man advantage, and Daniel Sedin scored on an easy tap-in down low to tie the game up. The teams would trade chances as the period went on, but no one was able to break the tie sending the game to overtime.
Once overtime started, it did not take very long for the Canucks to close the game out. A turnover by Tyson Barrie in the offensive zone led to a Canucks break the other way, and Sven Baertschi beat Jonathan Bernier over his glove hand to end the game.
The Avalanche continue their road trip on Thursday, when they head to Edmonton to take on the Oilers, but as of right now, they are likely more concerned with the health of their top player Nathan MacKinnon.
Five Observations
- For two teams that hadn’t played each other all year, the game was feisty. Nathan MacKinnon had to deal with quite a bit of hooking and holding before exiting the game. In the play that caused his injury, MacKinnon went to hit Alexander Edler in the offensive zone, Edler braced himself and the collision caused MacKinnon’s helmet to pop off. He continued his shift before leaving the ice, and soon after, headed for the locker room.
- Tyson Barrie made his return from injury, and was up and down, as you could expect from a long break. He joined the play in the second period on Landeskog’s first goal, but got caught up ice on the Canucks opening goal, and turned the puck over just prior to the Canucks’ game-winner.
- The Avs top pairing of Nikita Zadorov and Erik Johnson struggled, as they were clearly the Avs worst two defensemen in terms of possession. Zadorov ended the night controlling only 37 percent of the shot attempts, while Johnson was even worse at only 28 percent.
- Colin Wilson returned to the lineup after missing four games due to the flu. He came close to scoring a few times and hit the post twice.
- If MacKinnon misses any time due to his injury, Tyson Jost will likely see a bigger role, but he had a very up and down night. He turned the puck over just prior to the Canucks opening goal, and had a few other turnovers throughout the game, but also fed Wilson for a great chance in the slot in the second period.