Avalanche Drop 4-3 Loss to Canucks

The Colorado Avalanche suffered a 4-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night at Ball Arena. The Avalanche are now 11-6-1 on the season and snapped their three-game win streak.

For the Avalanche, Mikko Rantanen paced the Avalanche with two goals, including one on the power play, while Cale Makar also added a power-play strike. Nathan MacKinnon, J.T. Compher and Artturi Lehkonen handed out two assists each. Pavel Francouz made 21 saves on 25 shots in the loss.
Oskar Olausson made his NHL debut and Samuel Girard returned to the lineup after missing six games with a lower-body injury.
For the Canucks, Ilya Mikheyev, Bo Horvat and Sheldon Dries (1G, 1A) scored at even strength, while Ethan Bear (1G, 1A) scored at four-on-four. Oliver Ekman-Larsson handed out two assists. In net, Spencer Martin made 33 saves on 36 shots.

GAME SUMMARY:

Just 21 seconds after the puck dropped at Ball Arena, the Avalanche found themselves down 1-0 on the first shot of the game to the Canucks. But despite trailing by a goal early on the Avalanche responded with two unanswered goals both from Rantanen to hold a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
Vancouver scored on the first shift of the game as they quickly charged into Colorado's zone and cycled the puck to behind the goal line where Elias Pettersson sent a feed into the slot for Mikheyev, where he lofted his shot over Francouz's glove at the near side.
After not converting on an early power play, Colorado capitalized on a line change just over midway through the period to even the score up 1-1. Artturi Lehkonen threaded a pass out to the left faceoff circle for Devon Toews. The blueliner sent a feed to the net front where it deflected off Rantanen's skate and into the net at 11:27.

Unfortunately, Evan Rodrigues left the game in the first period after suffering a non-contact skate-to-skate hit from Tyler Meyers. Rodrigues immediately left the ice towards the dressing room.
On the Avalanche's second power-play opportunity of the frame, they capitalized to take a 2-1 lead. Dakota Joshua took a high-sticking penalty at 17:08. Colorado's league-leading power play snapped the puck around and Nathan MacKinnon fired a slap shot from distance. Martin made the save, but the rebound created a net-front scramble. J.T. Compher - who occupied Rodrigues' spot on the power play unit - tapped the puck out to Rantanen at the inside of the right faceoff circle where the Finnish winger put away his second goal of the game.

The second period was busy as Vancouver came out with a desperate effort early on and managed to equalize the score, but the Avalanche stayed the course and eventually capitalized on a power play to take a 3-2 lead heading into the final frame.
The Canucks seemingly tied the game up just over midway into the period as Conor Garland tipped in a point shot, but the goal was challenged by the Avalanche for goaltending interference. Upon review, it was determined that Garland was in the crease and made contact with Francouz and the goal was overturned.
Shortly after, the Canucks continued to push and were rewarded at 10:34 as Horvat, their captain, tipped a point shot from Ethan Bear past the far side of Francouz.
The Avalanche received a lengthy power play as Tyler Meyers high-sticked Rantanen in the slot at 12:31. The stick struck Rantanen's face and drew blood - as the winger did not return for the remainder of the period, but returned for the third - and thus, Colorado received a four-minute power play.
At 14:56, the Avalanche's power play improved to a 5-on-3 for 1:36 as J.T. Miller was called for hooking.
On the subsequent sequence, MacKinnon fired some blistering one timers on net, but couldn't beat Martin. Makar even struck the crossbar with a sizzling shot of his own, but the Avalanche finally lit the lamp as Compher found Makar and he and MacKinnon exchanged a quick pass before Makar blasted a 93.6 mile-per-hour one timer past Martin from the left faceoff circle at 15:59.

Early in the third period, the Canucks pressed and evened the score up 3-3. The Avalanche had just finished off a penalty - taken by Makar at 3:01 - and shortly after Vancouver scored. Francouz made a pad save on Oliver Ekman-Larsson's shot from distance, but the rebound kicked out to the doorstep and Dries popped the loose puck into the net for the equalizer at 5:07.
The Avalanche received a power play at 10:30 as Pettersson was called for tripping, but reduced their man advantage to a four-on-four goal as Makar took his second penalty of the period at 11:28 for inference and the Canucks capitalized to retake the lead.
The Avalanche failed to clear their zone and Vancouver regained possession and executed a quick d-to-d passing sequence from Ekman-Larrson over to Bear. From past the right faceoff circle, Bear skated into his slap shot and beat Francouz far side for the late go-ahead goal.

Tweet from @Avalanche: Olausson has hit the ice. #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/yJL46G6rYY

NOTEWORTHY:

• Rantanen buried his team-leading 12th and 13th goals of the season and also is tied with MacKinnon for the team lead in points with 28 (13G, 15A). The power-play goal marked Rantanen's third of the season..
• Makar's power-play strike marked his sixth goal of the season and third on the power play and his third-straight game with a goal. The PPG was Makar's fourth of the season.
• With two assists, Artturi Lehkonen extended his career-best point streak to eight games where he totaled 10 points (4G, 6A) in that span.
• Rodrigues suffered a lower body injury and did not return. He played 4:32 minutes and was plus-one. Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar did not have an update postgame.
• Francouz made his 6th start of the season, while his record fell to 2-4-0.
• Colorado finished the game 2-for-6 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
• Girard returned to the lineup after missing six games with a lower-body injury. The 24-year-old blueliner skated alongside Erik Johnson, totaled 18:05 minutes and took one shot.
• Olausson made his NHL debut and totaled 7:02 minutes as he skated alongside Alex Newhook and Evan Rodrigues.
• Bowen Byram and Kurtis MacDermid (all with lower-body injuries) were scratches for Colorado.

NEXT GAME:

The Avalanche return to Denver to host the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night at Ball Arena. The puck drops between the Avs and Canucks at 8 p.m. MT.