Oftentimes, all it takes to win a hockey game is to have your goalie outperform the opposition. Nashville had a better game from Juuse Saros than the Avalanche got from Mackenzie Blackwood.
But it wasn’t that easy on Friday night. The Avalanche fell to 2-3-1 in their last six games following a 7-3 loss to the Predators at Ball Arena. And many of the bad habits they developed during this stretch were duplicated in this one.
This is their first regulation loss at home in 23 games.
“There were no positives. There really weren’t. I hated that game from start to finish,” head coach Jared Bednar said.
Blackwood, in his first game back since New Year’s Eve, let in five goals on 28 shots before the Predators added two empty-net tallies. Saros faced 42 shots at the other end.
“Some things were good, some things were bad, overall,” Blackwood said of his performance. “I don’t think I played up to how I’m capable. So a little bit of stuff to clean up, but stuff to build on for sure.”
Brock Nelson had two goals, which both came in the first period. Martin Necas added the third. Former Avalanche center Ryan O’Reilly countered with a hat trick, which was followed up with goals from Michael Bunting, Filip Forsberg, Steven Stamkos, and Michael McCarron.
Colorado did not lead in this game at any point.
“That was not even close to the standard hockey that we want to play,” Bednar said.
The Preds got on the board first and it took just 30 seconds. O’Reilly got behind the Avs defense, received a pass from Forsberg and put it past Blackwood to make it 1-0. Colorado didn’t take long to respond. Nelson won a face off back and set up a screen in front of Saros. The point shot from Brent Burns left the puck in front for Nelson to tap home at 1:24.
But Nashville, and specifically O’Reilly, weren’t done yet. O’Reilly got his second at 7:32, scoring from the goal line to the left of Blackwood.
Once again, Nelson responded. He redirected a Josh Manson point shot at 11:16 to knot things up at 2-2.
Entering the second, the Avs had the momentum and kept control. They got chance after chance, but Saros was up to the task each time. He stopped Cale Makar after a nice feed from Necas. He also made a big save on a Victor Olofsson one-timer.
There were several others, many from the slot or beneath the hashmarks. Colorado had 25 shots on goal before the game was halfway through. But the later stages of the second changed the outlook of the period.
First, O’Reilly completed the hat trick at 13:01. And after a successful Predators penalty kill, Bunting doubled the lead at 18:04 following a Valeri Nichushkin turnover.
For all the offensive opportunities the Avalanche had, they were irresponsible with the puck on several occasions and weren’t making things easy for Blackwood.
Samuel Girard, Artturi Lehkonen, Nelson, Nichushkin, and Makar were all -3.
“I’m not gonna dissect everyone as an individual,” Bednar said. “We were no good. There were a lot of guys that were no good, so I’m not going to just pick apart a couple guys.”
Necas started the third period with a quick goal to pull Colorado within one. But the sloppy play continued, and the comeback fell short.
With 6:05 remaining, Zakhar Bardakov was called for interference following a lengthy review by the officials during a T.V. timeout. Bardakov had stapled Erik Haula to the boards, and the Predators forward fell to the ice in pain.
Several minutes later, Bardakov was assessed a penalty and Forsberg scored on the PP to regain Nashville’s two-goal lead.
“[The officials] started to huddle up and just kind of say that they were gonna call something, because they saw, obviously, a player down and hurt,” Nelson said. “They were calling for a penalty.”
Added Bednar: “I can’t say I agree with them, but this call they made, so that’s the call we live with.”
Bad: Sloppy, Irresponsible Play
Maybe it’s the four-day break, maybe it’s the midseason blues, or maybe it’s the injury-riddled roster. Whatever it is, the Avs looked as sloppy as they have all season on Friday. And it has been steering in this direction for many games now.
The turnovers were happening way too often, especially on unforced errors that start in the offensive zone and lead to rushes the other way. That’s ultimately how the Preds built that late second-period lead.
On top of that, it felt like passes were hard to come by. They couldn’t make a tape-to-tape pass. And when they did, the receiver struggled to keep possession.
Good: Nelson Keeps Offensive Burst Alive
For as often as I’ve had to highlight a struggling power play as the negative of a game, I’ve equally highlighted Nelson as a positive for continuing what has been a legendary season as the 2C.
Nelson started the season with three goals and five points. Since then, he has 21 goals and 35 points in 30 games. He’s also up to 14 goals in his last 16 games.
Since Nov. 29, he has the second-most goals in the NHL. His 18 goals are two back of Connor McDavd (20) and one more than MacKinnon (17) in that stretch.
Only Matt Boldy and Tage Thompson have more goals than Nelson among American Olympians. He’s been dynamite offensively, excellent defensively, and remains one of the team’s best players.
