Postgame: Avalanche Give Up Another Hat Trick In Loss To St. Louis
· Yahoo Sports
St. Louis Blues forward Robert Thomas completed a hat trick against the Avalanche with just 2:50 remaining in regulation on Sunday to hand Colorado its sixth loss in its last seven games at home. The final score was 3-2.
The Avs, who defeated the Dallas Stars on Saturday, need just two more points to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Central Division but couldn’t get it against the Blues — the same team they’ll face again on Tuesday. Colorado is 1-5-1 in its last seven at Ball Arena.
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Thomas, who became the second visiting player in two games to record a hat trick in Denver, scored all three of his goals off the rush.
“We gave up too many odd-man rushes again,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “Can’t happen. It’s what we’ve been talking about a lot here.”
Parker Kelly and Brent Burns scored for the Avs. In goal, Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 25 shots.
The Avalanche thought they had the first goal, and it would’ve been a big one for Ross Colton. The depth forward has just two goals in 16 games since February. He’s been held off the scoresheet for the last five games (-5 rating). Early in the first period, Sam Malinski fired a shot on goal, and the rebound was batted out of the air by Colton and into the back of the net on the doorstep.
What would’ve been Colton’s 10th of the season was called back following an offside challenge from the Blues. Later in the frame, it was Robert Thomas who broke through first. He gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 12:01.
The Avs didn’t need long to respond. With 4:50 remaining in the first period Kelly redirected a point shot from Burns to even the score. It’s Kelly’s 20th of the season and fifth in seven games.
“Confidence. I think off the rush, he looks very comfortable. He doesn’t look hesitant or nervous or anything,” star center Nathan MacKinnon said of Kelly. “A lot of his goals are tipping pucks in that high slot. He’s really good at it; he works on that a lot, and it’s paying off for him.”
In the second, the Avalanche got their first lead of the game just 3:40 in, thanks to a point shot from Burns that, this time, went through everyone and beat goalie Joel Hofer for his 12th of the season.
Just 29 seconds later, Thomas added his second of the night to even the score once more. The two teams played more than 30 minutes of hockey tied at 2-2 before the late tally sealed it for the Blues.
Colorado was 0-for-3 on the power play, two of which were late-period penalties that carried over into the next period. The Avs were also 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. The fourth successful PK was a late third-period slashing penalty on Gabe Landeskog. There was just 1:54 remaining in regulation at the time of the call, which effectively ended Colorado’s ability to play 6-on-5 as it searched for a game-tying goal.
Good: Nichushkin’s Status
Valeri Nichushkin was on the ice in the final moments of Saturday’s victory in Dallas. He didn’t play on Sunday for what the team announced was an upper-body injury.
Bednar said after the game that Nichushkin is day-to-day and could even play on Tuesday. This is another case of the coaching staff not taking any chances with anyone at this point in the season.
Bad: Can We Forward To The Playoffs?
With that being said, it’s clear at this point that the Avalanche are probably taking their foot off the pedal just a little bit in some of these games. Even if it’s not something they’re doing on purpose. Bednar called it a lack of commitment to playing the right way in some of these recent losses, including the one against Vancouver.
But they bounced back in a big way against Dallas. That game mattered. And then they followed it up with a game that they probably should’ve won.
The Avs are pretty close to clinching the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and likely the entire league. Once that happens, it would be nice to fast-forward to the playoffs. The only goal, now, is to clean up a few things and do so without any injuries.
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