Good & Bad: Avalanche Fail to Manufacture Urgency, Blow Third-Period Lead in Shootout Loss to Calgary

DENVER — Manufacturing urgency when it barely exists has already proven to be a challenge for the Avalanche. But it doesn’t entirely excuse another disappointing blown third period lead in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Calgary Flames on home ice on Monday.

Colorado is all but guaranteed the third seed in the Central Division. What happens between now and the start of the postseason won’t change that, outside of an epic collapse.

“They all look at the standings, and know the standings, and know if you win a handful of games here, you stay ahead of St Louis, and the likelihood of catching Dallas is kind of gone now, so that’s the challenge,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “But I think there’s things we can work on. As a coach, I understand it. I just don’t like it.”

The Avs finished their homestand 2-1-1 after losing the last two games by a goal. The one bright side is the lack of goals against. Despite the bad turnovers and the lack of urgent to close out games as of late, Colorado gave up just six goals in four games.

The pattern of blowing a third period lead is ultimately something that would need to get worked on before the playoffs begin. They all know that.

“It’s not gonna be easy every night, and you’re not gonna roll teams over, and they’re not gonna quit and go away, especially this time of year,” center Brock Nelson said. “Teams are fighting for playoff spots. Even if they get one [goal], just responding and getting right back at it, kind of flushing it. Getting back to our game, and know that we can control the play again and get the job done.”

Calgary natives Cale Makar and Logan O’Connor had the goals for the Avalanche, who fell to 12-2-2 in their last 16 games despite being winless in two straight.

Scott Wedgewood got the nod in goal and made 28 saves, including four in overtime. Wedgewood’s personal five-game winning streak came to an end. He’s 10-4-1 since being acquired from the Nashville Predators in November.

“It’s three weeks right now until the big dance,” Wedgewood said. “So there’s also maybe a little bit of that managing ice time and schedule and everything that’s going to come into play. But once it’s all settled down, we’ll make sure everything’s kind of ripe and ready for the right time.”

The game started a little sloppy, but the Avs eventually started to come on. Late in the first, Nathan MacKinnon fed Makar, who did his usual Makar thing and dipsy-doodled through the slot before picking his corner and firing it past goalie Dan Vladar. Calgary’s Mackenzie Weegar was tasked with covering the Avs’ star defenseman and ended the play off of his feet. It was also an excellent screen by Jonathan Drouin at the top of the crease.

Colorado took that 1-0 lead into the first intermission with a 10-6 shot advantage. But before the second was four minutes old, the Avs already had seven shots and were pouring it on. Eventually, they doubled the lead thanks to a patient individual effort by O’Connor. The 28-year-old waited out Vladar before tucking it between the pad and post to make it 2-0.

It was O’Connor’s third goal in four games and 10th of the season.

The Flames didn’t have much in terms of a response through nearly 50 minutes. Up until that point, Wedgewood had to make a few big saves but nothing out of the ordinary.

Ryan Lindgren took the Avs’ lone penalty at 8:54 of the final frame. They killed it off but Ryan Lomberg poked home a goal three seconds later to put the Flames on the board.

Trailing by one, the Flames came right back out on the next shift and a Makar turnover ended up in the back of the net off a shot from towering fourth-line forward Adam Klapka.

The teams exchanged chances in OT before the shootout began. Colorado didn’t get a goal from either of its shooters, Ross Colton, Charlie Coyle, or Valeri Nichushkin. For the Flames, Yegor Sharangovich beat Wedgewood to give Calgary the advantage.

Good: The Fourth Line Was Feeling Itself

It’s hard to highlight this after a frustrating loss, but the trio of Jack Drury, Parker Kelly, and O’Connor  had arguably its best game since Bednar put them together after the trade deadline. Bednar even made sure to separate them from the pack when he talked about the lack of intensity and attention to detail against Calgary.

Through 40 minutes, it felt like the fourth line was playing a lot more than they had in previous games. That’s how noticeable they were in a positive way.

But neither of them had played more than seven minutes up until that point. O’Connor was solid again and seems to be finding his offensive groove again. And both Drury and Kelly were excellent at both ends of the ice.

Bad: Where’s The Killer Instinct?

I get the lack of urgency with these games given where the team is in the standings, but let’s not pretend that was the case for the Dallas and Montreal games over the past two weeks. Colorado blew multi-goal third period leads before winning those two in OT or the shootout. In both cases, especially the game against the Stars, playoff implications were on the line.

This one just so happened to be the first to result in a loss. But it’s a pattern that has reared its ugly head time and time again. The lack of a killer instinct is something that needs to be corrected. And it probably will. But it’s hard to ignore how frustrating it is to see that happen again.