Avs Get Chances, But Can't Capitalize vs. Ducks

The Colorado Avalanche had opportunities to continue its winning ways but could not take advantage of them against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
The Avs saw their seven-game winning streak end, however they did extend their point streak to nine outings (7-0-2) with a 4-3 overtime loss at Pepsi Center.
"It was a tight-checking game, I don't think it was anything crazy, but they obviously have a lot of pride to play for and a lot of young guys and a lot of new guys trying to impress the new team," said Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog. "I thought we responded pretty good. I thought we gave them two easy goals at the start of the first and pace in the second period went down a little bit and that is on us.
"Overall, I think we were the better team tonight, and I thought we should have won this one. But you let them hang around and you don't capitalize on your chances--we had plenty of them--then you know, you end up with one point. We just got to start a new streak now I guess."

Landeskog factored on all three Avalanche tallies, scoring and adding two more assists. It was his first three-point game of the season and extended his personal point streak to a season-best six games. During his stretch, which is his longest since he also strung six games together with a point from Feb. 12-22, 2015, Landeskog has recorded three goals and five assists.

Since Colorado's bye week at the end of January, the Stockholm, Sweden, native has 16 points (six goals, 10 assists), tied with Nathan MacKinnon for the team lead in that timeframe.
MacKinnon also found the back of the net and registered a helper against the Ducks, and he now has 490 career points, moving past Alex Tanguay (488) to take sole possession of fourth place in Avalanche history and seventh place in Colorado/Quebec Nordiques franchise history in points.
MacKinnon's tally came on the power play, the 55th man-advantage marker in his career, moving him past Peter Forsberg for third place in power-play goals since the team moved to Denver.

Landeskog's marker also came on the power play as the Avalanche finished 2-for-3 on its man-advantage chances, the eighth time this season it has scored multiple in a game. However, the Avs captain thinks the squad could have had an additional one.
"I think we could have probably had another one or two maybe. You know, we had some scoring chances," Landeskog said of the man-advantage tallies. "Sometimes the power play plays well and you don't get rewarded. Sometimes you don't play that well and you get rewarded, so funny how it works, but I thought tonight we did some good things. Obviously, getting two was I think fair, and we have to continue to keep working. Obviously with some guys missing, we are changing up the units a little bit here and there, but I like what we are doing right now and getting some reps and drawing up some plays together, so got to keep working at it."

MacKinnon's tally knotted the game at 3-3 in the first half of the third period, and that score stood until the closing seconds of overtime. The Avalanche had some good scoring chances in the extra stanza, recording seven shots on net--the team's most in the extra frame since it had eight on Feb. 3, 2015 at Dallas--but Colorado wasn't able to gain the second point.
"Anaheim worked, they worked hard tonight. I thought both teams worked, it was a pretty competitive game," said head coach Jared Bednar. "I thought we could have used a little puck luck. I liked some of our chances that we had going through two periods especially… I liked what we were creating and I liked what we were giving up too actually through the first two periods, but again we needed to capitalize on a couple of those chances, even overtime. We had a couple chances. You capitalize on them, its two points, but sometimes that's the way it goes. I thought [Anaheim goaltender Ryan] Miller played real well for them. They end up getting two. We will take the one and turn the page."

BURAKOVSKY, MAKAR STAYING IN DENVER

The Avalanche goes back on the road for its next three games, a trip that begins on Friday at the Vancouver Canucks. The journey also features a back-to-back at the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings on Sunday and Monday. However, forward Andre Burakovsky and defenseman Cale Makar will not make the initial trek but could possibly join the Avs during the trip.
"We are not bringing any of the injured guys with us," Bednar said postgame. "To be honest with you, we are not skating, like even tomorrow again. We are running our guys ragged and lots of guys are playing a lot of minutes, so we will get the injured guys on the ice tomorrow and they can stay here and get ice. When they are ready to play, they will come join us."
Burakovsky and Makar will be joined in the Denver training room with Matt Calvert, Philipp Grubauer, Nazem Kadri, Mikko Rantanen and Colin Wilson.
Grubauer (lower body), Kadri (lower body) and Rantanen (upper body) skated prior to Wednesday's morning skate as non-contact participants and are all expected to be back by the end of the season. Calvert (lower body) is also anticipated to be back in the coming weeks but has not started skating. Wilson (lower body) is continuing to rehab and do off-ice training following two surgeries earlier this season.

MORE AVALANCHE NOTES

The Avalanche is 15-3-2 over its last 20 games and has collected points in 19 of its last 22 contests (15-3-4). Colorado is 7-0-2 in its last nine games, matching its longest point streak of the season (Nov. 27-Dec. 13, 8-0-1).
The Avs finished 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and have not surrendered a power-play goal in 10 consecutive games, killing 24 straight short-handed situations. The Avalanche's 10-game streak without allowing a power-play goal is the second-longest stretch in Colorado history (since 1995-96).
Tyson Jost notched two assists and now has six points (two goals, four assists) over his last five outings. Jost has registered 15 helpers this season, matching his career high set during the 2018-19 campaign.
Vladislav Namestnikov scored his second goal in as many games and now has three points (two goals, one assist) in five games since being acquired by the Avalanche on Feb. 24.
Samuel Girard (one goal, four assists) has five points in his last five contests.