The Colorado Avalanche put up a short performance against division rival Minnesota Wild in their fourth of a five-game homestand. Nathan MacKinnon scores Colorado's lone goal in the 3-1 loss.
Denver, Co. - Despite having a game in hand over the Minnesota Wild, a regulation win during Monday's matinee matchup would have catapulted the Colorado Avalanche out of their first wild card and into third in the division. After an exciting 6-3 win over another division rival in the Dallas Stars on Saturday, they had more than enough momentum to keep up that pace.
Instead, turnovers and a lack of generated offense handicapped the team, resulting in a 3-1 loss to the Wild.
Putting the score aside, Mackenzie Blackwood put up an incredible performance to give his team a chance. Most notable play, especially to Head Coach Jared Bednar, came in the waning seconds of a penalty kill (Ross Colton, minor for interference), where he made a lateral stretch save to rob Wild defenseman David Jiricek of a goal that would have put the Wild up 2-0 going into the second period.
"He did his part," Coach Bednar said of Blackwood following the game. "They got three amazing looks, that game could've easily been four to nothing."
In the same quote, he talked about the opportunities that led to each of Minnesota's goals, crediting a turnover that led to Minnesota beating Colorado's defense back to the net for their third goal of the night. "We're at the point of the year now where we can't make those mistakes and survive them all the time unless your goalie is bailing you out all the time."
How the Game Shook Out
Jake Middleton, older brother to Avalanche defenseman Keaton Middleton, gets the scoring started. A turnover from Jonathan Drouin in the neutral zone leads to a rush. Frederick Gaudreau finds Liam Ohgren entering the zone, who then finds Jake moving in. He fires off a shot just outside the top of the slot and after the puck takes a weird bounce off of Blackwood, it finds the back of the net to put the Wild up 1-0.
To cap off a penalty-filled second period, Nathan MacKinnon found the lone goal for the Colorado Avalanche and his 18th goal of the season. A highlight reel goal, Nathan MacKinnon spun and broke the wheels off of Jake Middleton, finds Sam Girard for a quick back-and-forth pass, stickhandles around traffic in the slot, and then launches it past Minnesota goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to tie things up.
Things go downhill from there for the Avalanche as Wild forward Yakov Trenin finds the lead again for his team just over two minutes into the third period. 3:35 later, Brock Faber makes it 3-1 and that's where the scoring leaves off.
What's Next for the Avalanche?
Colorado finishes up their five-game homestand with an evening matchup against another division rival in the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday at 7:30 pm Mountain Time. They finish up their series with the Jets later this month in Winnipeg on January 22nd.
