Good & Bad: Shorthanded Avalanche Close Season With 4-2 Comeback Win in Anaheim

Arrturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin joined a long list of Avalanche starters who did not dres in Sunday’s regular-season finale.

Without them, or Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Josh Manson, Ryan Lindgren, Ross Colton, or Jonathan Drouin, the Avs defeated the Anaheim Ducks 4-2, mounting a third-period comeback after surrendering the first two goals.

Colorado scored all four of its goals in a 9:07 stretch, getting tallies from Wyatt Aamodt, Jack Drury, Charlie Coyle, and Erik Johnson. Scott Wedgewood got the nod in goal, making 18 saves to finish the season 13-4-1 with Colorado since being acquired in November. Wedgewood is 8-0-1 in his last nine games.

The Ducks opened the scoring late in the first period off a tally from Mason McTavish. They added to the lead 7:35 into the second period with a goal from Sam Colangelo.

The score remained 2-0 for well over 20 minutes of gameplay. Then the comeback began.

Aamodt’s goal, the first of his NHL career, came with 9:55 remaining in regulation to pull the Avalanche within a goal. Colorado continued to control play and eventually got a power play.

On that advantage, Drury redirected a point shot from Sam Malinski to tie things up at 2-2.

But they weren’t done.

Coyle wired it from the circle with 2:09 remaining to put the Avs ahead. His 17th of the season, along with an assist on the Drury goal, helped him extend his point streak to six games. Coyle has two goals, eight assists, and 10 points during that stretch.

The empty-netter came from Johnson, who tallied his first Avalanche goal in nearly two years, and first in the regular season in almost three years.

The Avs are off on Monday and will resume practice on Tuesday as they prepare for a first-round matchup against the Dallas Stars.

Good: No Stars, No Quit, No Problem

Good teams have the type of organizational culture to make comebacks like this, regardless of who is or isn’t playing.

Coyle was the leader and proved again why the Avs are lucky to have him through next season. Drury, usually the fourth-line center, also had a multi-point game. He played a career-high 19:32 and didn’t look out of place.

The other depth guys, whether Parker Kelly, Logan O’Connor, or Sam Malinski, also grinded to make this comeback possible. It was nice to see them get rewarded with a lot of ice time.

Malinski played a game and career-high 25:15.

Bad: No Home-Ice Advantage?

I’m not entirely sure the team cares about this anymore. If they did, they wouldn’t have sat as many guys as they did down the stretch.

But home-ice advantage throughout the entire postseason is in jeopardy. There’s a realistic possibility that could see the Avs finish as low as 10th in league standings. The only teams that can’t pass them in the standings are any of the four wildcard teams, the New Jersey Devils, and the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.