Avalanche Game 35 Recap: It Was 4-0

Well...at least we're back in first place. Yay?

The NHL returned from their three-day holiday break with 14 games, and the Colorado Avalanche were no exception. The Avs were coming off a big 4-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes on December 23, and in this go-around, the Avs faced the Yotes again, this time in the desert. Mikko Rantanen was my Avs Twitter Psychic pick in the game, and for only the third time this season, I was correct. It was a power play goal late in the first, and it was Rantanen from Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar. The Avs led 1-0 after 20 minutes, and for MacKinnon, his points streak reached 19 games.

The Avs would explode in the second period; first, Jonathan Drouin put one in past Karel Vejmelka just 64 seconds in, and then Logan O'Connor ended a goal drought and made it 3-0. After Makar drew two penalties on Arizona, the Avs received a long two-man advantage, which MacKinnon used to make it 4-0. It was looking very good for the Avs, even after Lawson Crouse ended Alexandar Georgiev's shutout bid late in the second. Even so, it was 4-1, and it looked like a win was all but cemented for Colorado.

Then, the third period started.

At 3:48, Michael Kesselring made it 4-2 with an assist from Sean Durzi. Barely over three minutes later, Jason Zucker put one in from Durzi and Logan Cooley. Just like that, it was a one goal game. This was troubling. Despite this, it looked like the Avs would hold on and squash the Arizona comeback, but with just 2:07 left, Durzi tied it up--his third point of the period. Immediately, my thoughts went towards the recent game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Toronto Maple Leafs--the one where the Jackets had a 5-0 lead entering the third period, only for the Leafs to put up a five spot in the final 20 minutes to force overtime. Sure enough, overtime would be forced in this game as well. In the other game, the Jackets still won that game. The Avalanche wouldn't be as fortunate. Jack McBain won it for Arizona with 20 ticks left in OT, with the assists coming from Zucker and Durzi.

I'm still stunned by this. The Avalanche were up 4-0 and then just stopped playing. I'm not stunned because this was against the Coyotes. The Coyotes are better than they look and better than people think. Plus, Zona has been giving us a few fits dating back to our Cup season. Entering this game, the Avs were 13-1-2 when leading after 20 minutes, and 14-1-0 when leading after 40 minutes. The Avs were also 12-1-0 when Rantanen scores. Those records took a slight hit with this collapse. At least MacKinnon's point streak continues; he could end up taking the NHL points lead in due time. Even so, this loss is a damning one for sure.

You want to know the funniest bit of irony in this whole thing? The Avs took over the Central lead with this loss. This was an OT loss. The game had no business going to OT, but it did, and the point we received was enough to take the lead in the Central. The Dallas Stars lost in regulation, and the Winnipeg Jets (the third team in this cluster) also lost in OT. So even after blowing a 4-0 lead and losing in OT, that one point put the Avs back on top of the Central. BTW, this season is the 25th anniversary of that OT loss rule.

The Avalanche will remain on the road, as Friday will see the team in St. Louis against the Blues. After this, the Avalanche will end 2023 on home ice against the San Jose Sharks.

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