ANAHEIM, Calif. – For the fourth straight game after the Olympic break, anaheim ducks The opener opened the scoring, but this time, the elixir ran dry.
The league-leading Colorado Avalanche defeated the upstart Ducks 5-1 on Tuesday at Honda Center with a strong scoring team, excellent defense and goaltending.
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Anaheim snapped a five-game winning streak and eight straight at home and lost just its third game in its past 15 games (12-3-0).
“Playing from behind is not a traditional way to win hockey games,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “You can’t expect to keep chasing a game. Keep thinking it’s going to happen and you’re going to lose your luck.”
Ducks comeback in third quarter edmonton, winnipeg and calgary Although Anaheim has 17 comeback wins, they are tied for third in the league. The Ducks have allowed a goal in 36 games, fourth-most in the NHL.
“We’re lucky that we’ve come back and we’ve shown a lot of resiliency as a team,” Alex Killorn said, “but you can’t do that every game. It just doesn’t work that way. So we’ve got to find a way to get some leads and get off to some better starts so we don’t have to rely on doing that at the end of the game.”
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Anaheim was unable to capitalize on an early offensive opportunity – a snake-bitten Mason McTavish fired the puck out of an empty net on the first-period power play – and Colorado frustrated the Ducks in the neutral zone to negate a comeback from a 2-0 lead in the opening period.
Cutter Gauthier scored his sixth goal in six games in the second period on a great call by Jackson LaCombe to cut Colorado’s lead to 2-1, but that was all Anaheim could do.
Late in the second period, Jake Drury dug a puck out from under Lucas Dostal’s glove and Parker Kelly scored his first of two goals, with Quenneville tagging him in for an early counterattack.
“I thought we were good until they scored the third goal,” Quenneville said. “I thought we got off to a pretty good start. We didn’t score on the power play and it would have been nice to have scored earlier, but I thought the game was already tied at that point, down 2-1. That goal really seemed to take away our advantage.”
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Anaheim (33-24-3, 69 points) missed its chance to regain first place in the increasingly competitive Pacific Division for the first time since Dec. 22. The Ducks remain one point behind conference leader Vegas (28-19-14, 70 points), which has lost three straight. Anaheim has one game remaining against the Cavaliers.
Edmonton (30-24-8, 68 points) is one point behind Anaheim and two points behind Vegas. Oilers. Anaheim has played two fewer games than Edmonton, and Vegas has one game remaining against the Oilers.
Seattle (29-22-9, 67 points) is now just two points behind Anaheim in the second wild card and even in games played.
The Ducks will strike back on Wednesday as the New York Islanders and rookie Matthew Schaeffer head into the second half of a back-to-back at home.
Walking on the snow
There’s a reason Colorado is the top team in the league. The Avalanche lead the NHL in goals against per game, goals against per game, shots on goal per game and save percentage.
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The Avalanche’s scoring was opportunistic on Tuesday, their goaltending was outstanding and it was absolutely frustrating in the neutral zone.
Anaheim hit its first five shots in the first 10 minutes and won two power plays, but the Ducks were unable to beat Avalanche goaltender Scott Wedgewood early.
Wedgewood’s tenacity gave Colorado time to use its skills, which is what Norris Trophy winner Kyle Makar did for 11 minutes.
Makar quickly entered the offensive zone, moved the puck in front, went around the net to pick up the same loose puck, stepped into space and fired a shot past Dostal.
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Three minutes later, Makar received an assist on a power play and Martin Necas fired a puck through traffic for a 2-0 lead.
“It’s not like we were bad at the start of the game,” Killorn said. “It’s just little mistakes that end up costing us, so we have to step up on that.”
The Avalanche tightened up in response to their early advantage, and that’s where Colorado’s true strength is as a Stanley Cup contender. For all of their vaunted skill players — led by Makar and Nathan MacKinnon, who scored 100 points tonight — it’s their defensive prowess that sets them apart.
“I thought they did a good job of keeping us and keeping us out of their interior,” Quenneville said. “That’s why they’re such a good team. All aspects have been figured out and I thought the speed of their team was very evident tonight.”
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The Avalanche set up a 1-2-2 neutral zone structure to keep the Ducks out, and their defense kept a tight gap. Combined, the Ducks simply couldn’t get any speed across the middle of the ice — save for Leo Carlson’s blitz that triggered Carter Gauthier’s only Ducks goal — or sustain much offensive zone time.
“They play really hard in man coverage and their defense is big and strong,” Killorn said. “Even the guys who weren’t big were strong and they skated really well. Whether we got the zone or not, they did a great job. It was kind of like a hit and then we were out.”
The missed Anaheim opportunity and Colorado’s successful response set up a simple game plan for the Avalanche to lock down, even in the final stretch of a back-to-back.
Strome scratched again; injured Terry and Granlund show improvement
Anaheim played its third consecutive game Tuesday with an 11-forward, seven-guard lineup as they continue to observe a rehabbing forward group that includes Mikael Granlund, Troy Terry and Frank Vatrano.
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However, after being sick the past two games, Ryan Strome returned to skate and warm up Tuesday morning, but the veteran played his sixth straight game with a scratch.
“It’s not easy for him not to compete,” Quenneville said during the morning skate. “The amount of times he’s played in the past is part of it. It can be tricky… He’s been around. He’s been through it all. He can talk about how hard it is to be in the position he’s in, and I understand that. That’s the hardest part of our business.”
Quenneville also said this morning that both Granlund and Terry have made progress despite not participating in early skates.
Granlund missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury. Granlund skated alone ahead of Tuesday morning’s skate, but the 34-year-old hasn’t practiced since suffering a hit from behind after Finland won bronze in Milan.
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Terry missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury. This is the second time Terry has missed a game with an upper-body injury. The 28-year-old missed 11 games in January with the same upper-body injury.
Vatrano participated in Tuesday’s morning skate, his first since Dec. 27, but has not yet been fully cleared to return from a broken shoulder. He remains on injured reserve.
