Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Big Mistakes Cost The Colorado Avalanche In Loss To The Minnesota Wild

03/30/2023 at 5:34am EDT

from Bennett Durando of the Denver Post,

The Avalanche had scored a power play goal in a dozen consecutive games. In the unlucky 13th, they got played by their own power play.

Nathan MacKinnon’s shot was blocked, Cale Makar’s recovery of a bouncing puck was squandered at the blue line, and Frederick Gaudreau converted the ensuing short-handed breakaway for the back-breaking goal in Colorado’s 4-2 loss to the Wild on Wednesday.

“I was going backward for the first little bit, and then just couldn’t get back,” Makar said. “I took the first swipe at (the puck), and it bounced over my stick. Just one of those nights.”

In the most important game of the season at Ball Arena, with a chance to leapfrog Minnesota for first place in the Central, the Avs (44-24-6) conceded what was just their third short-handed goal of the season at the worst possible time. Halfway through the second period, the Avs trailed 2-1 when Valeri Nichushkin drew a boarding penalty behind the net. Gaudreau’s goal came just 14 seconds into the power play, and the Avs suddenly looked lifeless for the last 1:46.

Instead of overtaking Minnesota atop the division, Colorado trails by three points with eight games remaining, including Saturday (7 p.m. MT) against the tied-for-second-place Dallas Stars.

“It’s a game of mistakes, and we made some big ones,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Didn’t make a lot of them, but we made some big ones.”

continued

Game highlights are below.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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