Coach Jared Bednar was ready to go off on his team after the game. He showed some restraint.

Only some, though.

“If you want to hand out badges for good effort and stuff like that, I think we’re beyond that this time of year,” Bednar said after the game. “Effort for 20 minutes and doing the right things for 20 minutes isn’t good enough.”

The Avalanche, just a few days after trouncing the Calgary Flames 9-2 on home ice, looked like a different team against the worst team in the NHL, the Vancouver Canucks. Although they showed some fight by coming back from a four-goal deficit, they earned the eventual 8-6 loss they were handed.

It wasn’t just one thing that went wrong for the Avalanche. It was a bit of everything. They were giving up chances left and right, including a breakaway on the opening shift of the game. A few minutes later, the Canucks were handed a short-handed two-on-one that they capitalized on. As poor as the Avalanche were in their own end, they weren’t getting much done at the other.

The power play, which was very good in March, started April off with a dud, and at the 30-minute mark of the game, the Avalanche had been credited with just eight shots on goal. Sure, they bounced back and made a push to tie the game, but it was an uninspiring performance against a bad team on their home ice.

Mackenzie Blackwood started the game but he did not finish it. Although this was hardly all Blackwood’s fault, there were some shots he’d like to have back. He was beaten twice through the five-hole on breakaways and while the sixth and final goal he gave up was a fantastic shot, it was also one from distance without much of a screen.

No one was ready to put that performance just on their goaltender.

“He’s one of 20,” Bednar said. “That’s all I can say. One of 20 guys that wasn’t good enough.”

“We’re not saying it’s (Blackwood’s) fault by any means,” Brock Nelson said. “He’s kept us in a number of games all year and it was just a couple of unfortunate bounces where they end up with two-on-ones or pretty clear looks that we’d like to not give up.”

Playing without Cale Makar and a couple of new defensive pairs, the Avalanche looked a bit lost in their own end. While defensemen scored half of their goals, it doesn’t matter all that much when so much is ending up in the back of their own net.

The Avalanche still hold an eight-point lead over the Dallas Stars to sit atop the Central Division. Dallas plays Thursday at home before the two teams meet for the final time this regular season Saturday.

Canucks 8, Avalanche 6

What happened: Goaltending was optional but the road team got one more save.

What went right: Sam Malinski didn’t look all that comfortable on the power play, but at even strength, he kept rolling. Malinski picked up the first two-goal game of his NHL career and finished the night with three points.

What went wrong: Without Makar, Nick Blankenburg was forced to step into the lineup. This was just his fourth game in an Avalanche uniform and none of them have looked particularly great. He got beat badly on Vancouver’s fifth goal, sinking too far toward Blackwood and giving the Canucks a wide-open passing lane for an easy goal.

Avalanche goal scorers: MacKinnon (50), Landeskog (12), Malinski (6,7), Kelly (19), Burns (11)

Canucks goal scorers: Sasson (12), Blueger (7,8), Debrusk (17), Boeser (19,20,21), Pettersson (2)

Between the pipes: Mackenzie Blackwood stopped just 13 of the 19 shots he faced. Scott Wedgewood came in and was the goalie of record after giving up one goal on six shots.

What’s next: The Avalanche head to Dallas to take on the Stars at 1 p.m. Saturday.