from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

Nathan MacKinnon’s power-play one-timer in overtime was mostly blocked by Juulsen, but as the puck ascended roughly towards Whistler, it struck the visor of Nichuskin in front of the Vancouver net and tumbled past goalie Casey DeSmith to give the Avalanche a 4-3 win in a game the Canucks led 3-0 until the final seconds of the middle period....

That first Colorado goal, just so you know, was directed in by Mikko Rantanen’s stick with 1.8 seconds remaining after an Avalanche shoot-in was going to rim around to Juulsen but hit the photographer’s hole in the glass and bounced crazily towards the slot.

There was some bad luck to go with the dodgy calls that went against the Canucks, as their four-game winning streak ended while the Avalanche extended their run to five straight victories.

But, as Juulsen said, the Canucks never should have been in a spot where a bad call or bad bounce could cost them this game.

They led Nathan MacKinnon’s team 3-0 on home ice and were yielding next to nothing in scoring chances (and had allowed only 15 shots) prior to a defensive-zone faceoff that the Canucks actually won with 16 seconds remaining in the second period.

“That goal definitely gave them belief,” Canuck centre J.T. Miller, who scored 24 seconds into the game and set up Ilya Mikheyev’s first goal in 35 games at 2:44, lamented to reporters. “It's all that team really needed.

“Sh-- happens though. We should be able to come up in the third, two-goal lead at home against one of the best teams in the league. I don't understand any better reason to get up for that. It just sucks.

“This (loss) is all us. We didn’t win our battles, didn’t execute our passes. We were dumping it in for no reason. No forecheck. They outplayed us, they deserved to win.”

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Game highlights are below.