After seven games unbeaten the Colorado Avalanche finally fell to defeat on Wednesday night with a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks. The loss leaves them two points back from Central Division leaders the St Louis Blues with a game less played.
With seconds remaining in overtime, Tyson Jost broke free but just as he was about to shoot Ryan Getzlaf lifted his stick and Jost went sliding into the boards. With skates tangled, Getzlaf held him there for a few seconds as Rickard Rakell skated up ice and fired a shot off Samuel Girard’s stick and past Pavel Francouz with 1.2 seconds remaining.
Vladislav Namestnikov opened the scoring for the Avalanche with 3:51 gone in the first period. A breakout from their own defensive zone with Namestnikov, Landeskog and MacKinnon led to the latter ripping a shot at Ryan Miller in the Ducks goal. The rebound off Miller’s pad hit Namestnikov in the chest, and possibly a Ducks defender, before finding its way into the net.
The lead lasted less than two minutes before former Avalanche player Andrew Agozzino tied it up. Unable to get the puck out of their defensive zone for an extended amount of time the tired Avalanche lost concentration and Matt Irwin’s pass from behind the net was slapped home by Agozzino as he got ahead of Tyson Jost just outside the blue paint.
Eight minutes later it was advantage Ducks when Rakell got the puck behind the net and passed through the legs of Jakob Silfverberg for Brendan Guhle to fire home completely unmarked. It was definitely not the strong defending shown by the Avalanche in previous games as the latest injury to Cale Makar started to take it’s toll.
However, in an explosive first period the Avalanche tied it less than a minute later on the Power-Play when a nice passing sequence from Jost to Girard to Landeskog left the captain with time and space to shoot past Miller who was being screened by JT Compher.
If I wasn’t hooked on Hockey before, I am now!
The game tightened up from there on with the next goal coming from Sam Steel with 12:48 gone in the second to put the Ducks up 3-2. Again from behind the net, Ryan Getzlaf picked out the center who fired home despite Avalanche players closing in. However, what Nikita Zadorov was doing moving away from Getzlaf instead of closing him down and restricting the pass is a mystery.
With the game hanging in the balance it was time for Nathan MacKinnon to do Nathan MacKinnon things and with 7:19 gone in the third he single handedly tied the game up. Receiving the puck from Landeskog at the red line he took off into the Ducks O-Zone and absolutely rifled a shot past Miller with the Ducks defense able to do little to stop him. It was his first goal in seven games.
Plus he also did this…
You spin me right round, right round 🎶#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/PXpvh2CNUs
— x – Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) March 5, 2020
If I wasn’t hooked on Hockey before, I am now!
Poor Ryan Getzlaf.
It wasn’t enough though and Rakell spoiled the atmosphere inside the Pepsi Center, sending the Avalanche on a three game road trip without Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen, Nazem Kadri, Matt Calvert, Philip Grubauer and mostly importantly without two points.
