{"id":412769,"date":"2026-01-17T15:35:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T15:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/412769\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T15:35:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T15:35:20","slug":"3-takeaways-from-the-avalanches-7-3-loss-to-the-predators-the-hockey-writers-colorado-avalanche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/412769\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Takeaways from the Avalanche\u2019s 7-3 Loss to the Predators – The Hockey Writers – Colorado Avalanche"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last time we saw the Colorado Avalanche, they dropped their eighth game in overtime or a shootout, losing to the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3<\/a>. Given the Avalanche have a winning percentage north of .800, it probably didn\u2019t register on the radar of most fans.<\/p>\n

With the good news of Mackenzie Blackwood returning to the lineup<\/a>, it felt like Friday night\u2019s game against the Nashville Predators would be the quick rebound we have all come to expect. Instead, the Avalanche got put in their place by their division rival to the tune of 7-3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brock Nelson is Still on Fire<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the positives before getting into the negatives. Very positive: Brock Nelson<\/a> is still playing like his hair is on fire. Nelson scored two of the three Avalanche goals on Friday night, a key reason they were down just one with less than five minutes remaining in the game.<\/p>\n

\"BrockBrock Nelson, Colorado Avalanche (Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Since Christmas \u2013 10 games \u2013 Nelson has 10 goals and 15 points. If there is one minor criticism over that span, he\u2019s a collective -3 but plus\/minus has always been a somewhat deceptive stat. In any case, it is hard to ignore the kind of offensive output he has had so far this season.<\/p>\n

With 24 goals and 40 points in 46 games, Nelson is playing like an elite second-line center. He has been exceptional overall, playing the tough, smart two-way game that was expected of him when he was acquired last season. He has been a major reason for the success of the Avalanche so far this season.<\/p>\n

Net-Front Defense was Awful<\/p>\n

The real culprit for last night\u2019s loss is the team\u2019s defense below the hash marks and in front of the net. On the very first goal just 30 seconds into the game, Ryan O\u2019Reilly cut behind a defender and walked right in on Blackwood, finishing with a nasty backhander.<\/p>\n

Related: NHL\u2019s Top 5 Defenses<\/a><\/p>\n

O\u2019Reilly was a consistent presence in front of Blackwood, causing havoc all night. The Avalanche also got a little unlucky, particularly on O\u2019Reilly\u2019s second goal. He attempted a pass in front of the net that went in right off the stick of Avalanche defenseman Sam Girard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nashville\u2019s top line of O\u2019Reilly, Filip Forsberg, and Luke Evangelista were dominant, combining for four goals and five assists. A lot of that work came from the hash marks and in, making it tough for Blackwood throughout the night.<\/p>\n

Mackenzie Blackwood Wasn\u2019t Great<\/p>\n

Speaking of Blackwood, he wasn\u2019t done many favors by his team, but he also wasn\u2019t his best. Playing for the first time since Dec. 31, and hopefully this was one of those \u201cshaking the rust off\u201d performances.<\/p>\n

Blackwood gave up five goals on 28 shots to what has generally been a bad Predators team. Again, he was done few favors by his team but there were a few instances where it felt like he could have made the stop and simply did not.<\/p>\n

\"MackenzieMackenzie Blackwood, Colorado Avalanche (Photo by Dustin Bradford\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Like the team as a whole, it is tough to criticize Blackwood. When he\u2019s been healthy, he has been excellent, posting a 13-2-1 record with a 2.26 goals against average and a sparkling .917 save percentage. Sometimes you have an off night and that feels like the case with Blackwood.<\/p>\n

Get Back on Track<\/p>\n

It is hard to be super critical of the Avalanche at this point. This was just their fifth regulation loss of the season and even good teams lay an egg sometimes. They could probably stand to add a little depth<\/a>, but their lead in the Central Division is still 11 points and they have games in hand on both the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild.<\/p>\n

All that said, it is a little disconcerting that the Avalanche now have a pair of losing streaks (albeit two-game losing streaks) to start the New Year. This team is good enough and deep enough that this shouldn\u2019t be a prolonged issue, but it starts by making a statement the next time out.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last time we saw the Colorado Avalanche, they dropped their eighth game in overtime or a shootout,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5119],"tags":[1034,5,1123,2409,231,5281,4,2410],"class_list":{"0":"post-412769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nashville-predators","8":"tag-brock-nelson","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-mackenzie-blackwood","11":"tag-nashville","12":"tag-nashville-predators","13":"tag-nashvillepredators","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-predators"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115911178722381196","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}