"It's just one of those things, trying to do too much early and pucks come back on you. Turned a lot of pucks over, it's like we were feeling like we had to win the game in the first shift or the first three or four shifts and next thing you know there is four or five scoring chances against and they score on one of them and put it out of reach."
Colorado gave up two power-play goals in the middle frame and the Golden Knights had a 2-1 lead at the second intermission, but the momentum of the game was not completely in their favor as the Avs were continuing to create scoring chances.
However in the third period, Vegas doubled its shot total from the first two stanzas, registering 15 pucks on the Colorado net, while the Avalanche recorded four shots in the final 20 minutes.
"I think we had a good start, no doubt," said captain Gabriel Landeskog. "It's a fun place to play and I liked the group's start tonight, really the first two periods. The third, I didn't like at all, but the first two periods I liked a lot."
The Avalanche has the third-best penalty kill in the league, but it was only able to kill off two of the four penalties against in the contest and could not capitalize on any of its three power-play opportunities.
"[Vegas' first goal] is a rebound bouncing around and the second one is a good shot with a good screen, and it's a 2-1 game with two power-play goals against," said Landeskog. "I think at that point, we are not that worried, we are just worried about playing because I felt like through the first two periods we were playing hard and we were dictating the play. And it comes down to special teams, and that's going to be important this time of year. The power play wasn't good enough tonight and neither was the penalty kill."
Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28 shots and made some significant saves early in the game to keep the game scoreless.
"He made some key saves there in the first period especially, and second period obviously as well, but I think in the third it's too easy to play against us," Landeskog said. "We just don't nearly shoot enough or get in front of him, but he was good."
With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Avalanche will regroup from the loss and prepare for its next game when it hosts the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday at Pepsi Center.
"It's just the same thing we do every time, reload and recharge," said Landeskog. "Make sure we watch video, study what we can do better from tonight and move on, that's it. I mean you have to have a short memory this time of year and we know the next two points are going to be real important as well so recharge for that one."
