Aarif Deen
The last-place Vancouver Canucks had lost six straight games and scored a combined 11 goals. On Wednesday, they put eight goals past the No. 1 Avalanche and handed Colorado a 8-6 loss at Ball Arena.
There were no positives to take away from this game. And that’s according to head coach Jared Bednar.
“I think if we’re making excuses for that performance, it’s gonna be a short run,” Bednar said.
Mackenzie Blackwood got the nod in goal and gave up six goals on just 19 shots. At least three of them were less than stellar goals. But the team defense in front of him didn’t do him any favors.
“He’s one of 20. That’s all I can say,” Bednar said. “One of 20 guys that wasn’t good enough.”
Sam Malinski had two goals, while Nathan MacKinnon, Gabe Landeskog, Brent Burns, and Parker Kelly each had one. The Avs trailed 6-2 when Blackwood was yanked and came all the way back to tie the game up at 6-6. Just 23 seconds after that, Marcus Pettersson scored his first goal since November to the Canucks back on top.
“A chance to come back. We got it, and then we get an unfortunate bounce,” said goalie Scott Wedgewood, who gave up the game-deciding goal on one of five shots he faced in more than 22 minutes in goal. Wedgewood was credited with the loss because of it.
The Avalanche fell to 49-15-10 and won’t have a chance to clinch with a regulation victory over the Dallas Stars on Saturday. Colorado is still in the driver seat to lock up the top seed but a game like that, against a team that hasn’t had a game anywhere remotely close to as good as that all season, is a concern.
Especially when it’s just eight games before the playoffs. The mistakes from the Avs were endless — “too much to list,” as Bednar put it.
The Canucks scored on the opening shift, but MacKinnon answered back a minute later. His tally was his 50th of the season, becoming the first player to reach that mark this season.
Before the period ended, Vancouver scored a power play and shorthanded goal before the Avs got one back.
In the second, three straight goals from the Canucks ended Blackwood’s night. At the time of the third goal, the Avalanche had just three shots in the second period. They weren’t generating offense, they were struggling defensively, and anything remotely close to a clean look on goal was going past Blackwood.
But then the scoring onslaught began.
Malinski tallied his first of the net after Wedgewood took over. Fourteen seconds into the third, Kelly notched his 19th of the season to cut the lead down to two. Burns’ goal at 13:21 made it 6-5, and Malinski tied it up at 13:58.
The crowd was into it, the game was knotted up at 6-6. It took just 23 seconds for the Canucks to get it right back. And that was it.
Good: Blueline Point Production
This is about all you can take as a positive, aside from mounting a comeback in the third.
Without Cale Makar, the Avs’ defensive game took a huge step back. But the blueliners, in terms of offense, combined for eight points. The forwards had seven.
Bad: Mistakes.
The opening goal was bad.
The power play was terrible.
MacKinnon’s inability to win a stick battle and not backchecking was an issue. It’s what led to the shorthanded goal against.
Blackwood looked terrible.
So did the team’s overall communication for the first 40 minutes.
As Bednar put it, there were too many to list.