Mile High Sports

Takeaways: Avalanche secure a point, fall in OT in Detroit

Aarif Deen

Feb 22, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Colorado Avalanche goaltender Justus Annunen (60) makes a save on Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin (71) in the second period at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

DETROIT — The Avalanche’s 10-game winning streak against the Detroit Red Wings came to a crashing halt.

Leading by a goal heading into the third period, Colorado watched its lead — and control of the game — slip away before falling 2-1 in overtime thanks to a game-winning goal from long-time Chicago Blackhawks legend Patrick Kane. The OT tally was assisted by Dylan Larkin, who scored the game-tying goal earlier in the third period on the man advantage. Colorado’s goal came from superstar center Nathan MacKinnon in the second period.

Detroit has struggled for more than a half-decade against its old bitter rivals. Before Thursday, the Avs had won every game between the two since the last one at the Joe Louis Arena nearly seven years ago.

The Avalanche fell to 13-13-5 on the road despite starting 6-0-0. They’ve won just seven of the last 25 games away from Ball Arena. It’s one of the more fascinating stats of the season and shows just how crucial their dominance at home has been. Colorado is an NHL-best 22-5-0 in Denver.

As for their road struggles? They can’t quite pinpoint why these games continue to slip away.

Takeaways

Justus Annunen stands tall

Colorado’s backup goaltender pitched in with the most consistent NHL start in his young career. Annunen stopped 28-of-30 shots, earning praise from head coach Jared Bednar despite Colorado’s loss. Bednar said Annunen was the key to securing a point and getting the game to OT. Annunen was called up after the All-Star break and has started a third of the Avalanche’s games since. He’s 0-2-1 in that stretch.

The Avs are desperately searching for goaltending help, looking to find any way to lighten the load on starting goalie Alexandar Georgiev. Annunen’s save percentage entering this one was at .888. But his performance is a glimpse of what the team continues to hope he could develop into. Whether or not Annunen is the backup after the March 8 trade deadline is anybody’s guess. But games like this are much needed until that gets figured out.

Avalanche give it away in the third

For the second consecutive game, the Avalanche held a one-goal lead in the third period. Against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday, Colorado led 2-1 throughout the majority of the third and kept the high-scoring Canucks off the board until Artturi Lehkonen put the game away with an empty netter.

Against the Red Wings, who are surprisingly the sixth-best offensive team in the NHL, Colorado held the fort down until a late-game penalty from Jonathan Drouin gave Detroit a power play. Larkin capitalized on the man advantage, knotting things up at 1-1 with 7:58 remaining in regulation. Despite failing to keep the Red Wings off the board, the Avs had an opportunity to answer back after star defenseman Cale Makar drew a penalty with 6:23 remaining.

The power play came away empty-handed.

Bednar said the game started to slip away in the later stages of the second period shortly after MacKinnon gave the Avs a 1-0 lead. The Wings pressed in the third on multiple occasions, but their best looks came later in the second period. They had a lengthy shift that pinned Makar deep in his own zone for 2:23. They also had a power play in the second period where they spent nearly the full two minutes pressuring Colorado.

Power play fails again

Bednar said he didn’t mind the power play’s performance in Detroit. Colorado was 0-for-3 in 4:59 but had several good looks that were stopped by goalie Alex Lyon. But the big issue isn’t their chances. It’s the Avalanche’s inability to finish on those opportunities.

Colorado went into the All-Star game with one of the best power plays in the NHL. It was operating at more than 30 percent in the last stretch of games before the lengthy time off. Since then, they’ve struggled to find the back of the net, and it’s hurt them in several games — especially on the road.

The Avs are 2-for-29 on the man advantage in their last nine games since the break. They rank 31st in the NHL. Their penalty kill has not been as weak but is also struggling. After giving up the game-tying goal on the PK, Colorado has given up six goals on 28 chances in February.

Exit mobile version