Avs Show Progress Against Predators

The compete level and effort was there, but the end result wasn't in favor of the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.
The Avs outshot the league-leading Nashville Predators each period but fell 4-2 at Pepsi Center in a matchup of two Central Division clubs each playing in the second half of a back-to-back set.

"I thought we were really competitive tonight. We played hard in almost all areas," said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar afterward. "We took the lead there, it was 2-1, and I think we had a couple chances shortly after that to maybe stretch that out.
"They find a way to make you pay for those mistakes, and you got to make sure that you aren't making many of them. Got to be happy with that from our team, for sure. There are some things that we can definitely do better, but guys laid it on the line tonight."
Colorado defeated the St. Louis Blues 4-1 on Thursday but didn't look tired to begin Friday's game, outshooting the Preds 7-1 in the first six minutes of the contest and held a 12-10 advantage in the category at the first intermission.

Both teams tallied in the opening frame, with Nathan MacKinnon getting the Avs' marker at 19:01. Gabriel Landeskog gave Colorado a 2-1 lead early in the second period, but Nashville scored twice soon after and then added an empty-netter in the closing minutes.
"I think we came out pretty strong today," said Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov. "We played well. Nashville is a really good team, tough to play against, but I think we played strong today and had a really good game, just didn't score. We had a couple good chances on the other end, we just didn't score. I thought we deserved at least one point today."
The loss ended Colorado's nine-game point streak (6-0-3), but the team still holds the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Avs are tied with the Dallas Stars with 84 points, but the Avalanche owns the tiebreaker having played one fewer game.
For the Predators, the victory gives them 104 points and makes them the first team to clinch a berth into next month's Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"I think it was a well-played game by us, and overall they were good, too," said Avs forward Carl Soderberg. "Two good teams and a good battle, but unfortunately we couldn't get the win."

SOME STREAKS CONTINUE

While the Avalanche's team point streak ended at nine games, a few individual ones survived thanks to Nathan MacKinnon's goal with 59 seconds remaining in the first period.
MacKinnon's marker stretched his season-long point streak to 11 outings, which is two shy of his career high of 13 that he set during his rookie campaign in 2013-14. It was also his 60th point at home, the most in the NHL this year and the highest by an Avs player since Joe Sakic had 67 at Pepsi Center in 2000-01.
Tyson Barrie fed MacKinnon the puck at the point for a one-time blast, which pushed the blueliner's personal point streak to nine games.

Barrie's nine-game run is tied for the longest in Avalanche history and the second longest in the franchise annals by a defenseman. He now shares the Colorado record with John Michael Liles and Kevin Shattenkirk, both of whom accomplished the feat in 2010-11. Steve Duchesne holds the franchise mark at 15 games in 1992-93 with the Quebec Nordiques.
Mikko Rantanen also got a helper on MacKinnon's 36th goal of the season to push his assist/point streak to five outings (three goals, eight assists). He leads the NHL with 16 points (five goals and 11 assists) in the month of March.

VARLAMOV BACK IN NET

Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov was between the pipes for the second straight night and made 25 saves versus the Predators after stopping 44 shots in Thursday' win at the St. Louis Blues.
The netminder was starting in his third consecutive contest but was playing in his 16th straight outing. He's seen most of the action in the crease recently due to backups Jonathan Bernier and Andrew Hammond both out of the lineup with head injuries.
"I feel good. That is what we train for in the summer time, all year long, to play every other day," Varlamov said. "I'm feeling pretty good right now."
Coming into Friday's contest, Varlamov had gone 5-0-3 with a 2.07 goals-against average and .940 save percentage in his previous seven games.

WARSOFSKY PICKS UP ANOTHER POINT

David Warsofsky picked up his third point of the season, all of which have come in the last four games.
The defenseman assisted on Gabriel Landeskog's tally that gave Colorado a 2-1 lead early in the second period.
Warsofsky's three points on the year are his most in an NHL season. Friday was his 10th game with the Avs and 49th in the league.
The Avalanche signed Warsofsky to a two-year deal in the offseason, and he began the campaign in the American Hockey League with the San Antonio Rampage, where he has registered 20 points (four goals and 16 assists) in 47 contests.