Postgame Wrap-Up: Avs Taking Positives in "Hard-Fought Game"

In a matchup of two of the top scoring teams in the league, it was their defense that was on display in a 1-0 game.
The Tampa Bay Lightning was the club on the winning end of Wednesday night's cross-conference tilt against the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center, as Nikita Kucherov scored a power-play goal 6:24 into the third period that held up until the final horn.
"Tampa Bay is a great hockey team. We knew it was going to be a challenge all night," said Avalanche defenseman Ian Cole. "You saw the flow of the game flow both ways. I thought we could have done a better job of grabbing it in the second, but we came back and had a good third. Their power play is deadly."

Tampa Bay entered the contest with the league's second-ranked offense, averaging 3.86 goals per game, while Colorado was close behind at 3.67, tied for fifth in the NHL. Neither of that firepower was on exhibited as the final shots finished 24-23 in favor of the Lightning.
"I think on our side of it, we knew our commitment had to be real strong defensively. I thought it was," said Avs head coach Jared Bednar. "We competed hard, had good energy. We weren't perfect, but we did a nice job. The difference in the hockey game is a power play in the third."

The clubs were fairly equally matched on special teams as well.
The Lightning sported the top penalty-kill group in the league, while its power play was 12th. For the Avalanche, the squad began the evening with the second-ranked PK and the 10th overall man-advantage unit.
The teams combined for 17 shots on the power play--more than a third of the total that was taken in the entire game--and one of those shots proved to be the difference.
"Hard-fought game all the way through. We had enough scoring chances to win the hockey game in my opinion," said Colorado's Gabriel Landeskog. "You score one on the power play, and that's the game really. It's not more than that."

The Avalanche had a good first period, outshooting the Bolts 11-4 in the stanza and found the back of the net first as Landeskog beat goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy with a one-timer at 11:11. But the marker didn't hold up as Tampa challenged for offsides and the officials agreed after reviewing the video.
"That is not where the game was won or lost in my opinion," Landeskog said of the call. "It would have been nice with a first period goal, but we moved on and kept playing and had other chances to score."
So what did the Avs learn from this contest against one of the top squads in the Eastern Conference?
While the loss still stings nonetheless, Colorado revealed it can match up with one of the NHL's best teams and give itself a chance to win on any given night.
"I would not expect anything less from our group than the compete that we showed out there today," Landeskog said. "We can compete with the best teams in the league, and I think we have showed that we belong in the top there so far this year."
VARLY STRONG AGAIN: For the fourth time this season, Semyon Varlamov allowed only one goal as he stopped 23 of the 24 shots that came his way on Wednesday.
Varlamov leads the league with a 1.56 goals-against average and .953 save percentage (minimum three games played).
He entered the outing with a 4-0-2 record, his longest stretch without a regulation loss to begin a campaign in his career.
END OF THE LINE:Each member of the Avalanche's top line saw a streak come to an end against the Lightning.
Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen had the longest streak going into the game, but their nine-game run with at least a goal or an assist is now closed. The forwards both finished tied with John-Michael Liles (2010-11) for the longest season-opening point streak in Avs history (since 1995).
The duo had previously set a new franchise record for being the first set of teammates to begin a campaign with points in each of their first nine outings.
Gabriel Landeskog's four-game goal streak (seven tallies total) and five-game point streak (seven goals, three assists) also both came to an end.
COMPHER UPDATE: Forward J.T. Compher missed his fifth game due to a head injury Wednesday night and hasn't skated for the last few days, according to head coach Jared Bednar.
"It's really hard to say," said Bednar of Compher before the game. "He's going to see the docs again tonight. I think he's feeling better, but he has his good days and bad days. It's one of those things that you just have to play it by ear and reevaluate."
Compher's last game was on Oct. 13 when the Avalanche hosted the Calgary Flames at Pepsi Center.
TIMMINS BACK IN COLORADO:After spending a few weeks back home in Ontario, Canada, defenseman Conor Timmins has rejoined the team and continues to recover from a concussion.
"He's back, and he's feeling a little better too," Bednar said of Timmins following morning skate. "He's another guy that will see the doc, and we'll make a plan on him moving forward. Again, I don't have a timeline on him either."
The Avs wanted the young blueliner to get away from the team for a little bit to see his family and get refreshed. With the team on an eight-day road trip last week, the timing worked out well.
Timmins has been dealing with post-concussion symptoms since the spring. His last contest came in Game 5 of Ontario Hockey League Western Conference Finals with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds on May 11.