Jaden Schwartz and Parker Kelly scored for the Avalanche (9-6-2), who have lost two straight (0-1-1) and three of their past six games (3-2-1). Mackenzie Blackwood made 22 saves.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that we played harder and more committed on the defending side,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “Thought both teams played hard. We certainly had our looks to try and win it. So got to be happy with the effort. There’s definitely some things that we can improve on, but I like the fact that we played hard and competed hard on both sides of the puck. Now we can work on improving some of the things that need to improve from that.”
Colton scored to make it 1-0 Nashville at 4:01 of the first period after he located the puck at the top of the crease during a goal-mouth scramble and backhanded it past the left pad of Blackwood. Blackwood made two saves on the sequence before Colton’s shot went in.
“It’s great for Ross. He’s been really good. He’s getting better every game,” Brunette said. “Obviously, we’ve had a bunch of new guys come in, and we’re still trying to build our game, find our game. And he’s been our driving force here this through this week and probably the last two weeks, and it’s nice when he scores. He’s a rambunctious kid that brings a lot of energy to our group.”
Schwartz tied it 1-1 at 9:11 when he snapped Martin Necas’ cross-ice pass from the right circle. Brock Nelson poked the puck away from Nick Perbix behind the net and Necas recovered it, skated back into the left circle, and fed Schwartz across the slot.
“We got to get back to it. We got to string together some games of good play from us,” Toews said. “Even if it’s a night like this where you lose in overtime, you just build those stepping stones to get to where we want to go.”
Pinchuk gave the Predators a 2-1 lead at 14:34, roofing a backhand shot from the bottom of the right circle top shelf short side over Blackwood’s left shoulder.
“I’m so excited because we have a win and I scored. It’s what I want,” Pinchuk said. “(Reid) Schaefer said to me after I hit two posts in two shifts, he said, ‘Third one go in,’ and it’s really like that.”
Said Stamkos: “Way nicer than a lot of guys’ first NHL goals, so I’m sure he’ll remember that for a long time. I thought that was his best game by a mile. You could tell. Obviously, you gain a little confidence when you score, but he had the puck on his stick a lot. He was making plays.”