Postgame Wrap-Up: Calvert Scores First Avs Goal Versus Preds

Matt Calvert scored his first goal as a member of the Colorado Avalanche, but the team fell 4-1 to the Nashville Predators at Pepsi Center on Wednesday.
It was Calvert's eighth career power-play goal and came via a redirect on a Samuel Girard blast from the point.
"It felt great to contribute offensively. I am almost trying too hard, I think," Calvert said. "A great shot by G and I got a stick on it. Sometimes you need the first one to go in like that."

The left wing signed with Colorado this past summer as a free agent and now has three points (one goal, two assists) to begin the season.
His tally came in the middle frame and made it a 2-1 game after the Predators took a two-goal lead into the first intermission.
"I thought we kind of tip-toed into the game, whether that is us having a few days off or not, we got to be ready to start against teams like that," said Calvert. "They are obviously ahead of us in the standings and a division rival, so those got to be games we got to get up for right away. Obviously, a couple [goals get] called off and the one we did score went upstairs too, so those are tough momentum boosts but you try and learn from those."
Colorado technically found the back of the net three times in the contest, but each one went to video review and two of the plays were ultimately were deemed offside.
"I got to try and find reviews or replays that they have, because to me one could be inconclusive, maybe both, I don't know," said head coach Jared Bednar. "But, I think that our execution was poor today. Tape-to-tape passes we are throwing into guys' skates, even when there aren't players in between us. Going offside on goals, that's part of execution, slows down our pace, slows down the tempo of our game.
"I didn't think we skated that bad, we had a little bit of a slow start but I thought we got better in the second certainly, but some of the execution stuff… The two goals getting called back to me is just another aspect of our lack of execution."

Nashville outshot Colorado 16-10 in the first period and took advantage of two of those shots. Calvert got the Avs closer in the second, but the Predators regained their two-goal lead three seconds before the second intermission began with a power-play marker.
The Avalanche did push back and increase the pace of play in the third but was unable to make up the deficit.
"We can't play the victim here and say should of, could of, would of. The fact of the matter is we didn't play well enough in many other aspects of the game," said defenseman Ian Cole. "We got better as the game went on, but for the most part we can play better all the way across the board.
"We started to ratchet up the pace there as the game went on and being able to get right back at it in two days I think will be good. Hopefully we can continue to ratchet that pace up because you see when we play at that pace we are tough to play against."

MacKINNON HITS 200 ASSISTS

Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon recorded his 200th NHL assist with a helper on Calvert's second-period tally. He finished the game with four shots on goal in a season-high 24:28 of ice time.
MacKinnon now has 22 points (11 goals, 10 assists) through the first 15 outings of the 2018-19 season.
The Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native increased his career total to 325 points in 389 games since being selected first overall by the Avalanche in the 2013 NHL Draft.

LOOKING AHEAD TO FRIDAY

Colorado faces another tough Central Division opponent on Friday in its next contest at the Winnipeg Jets, the start of a two-game road trip.
"They are a great hockey team as well, and certainly a very tough place to play," said Cole. "It's going to be a challenge, and I think a challenge that we are going to be ready for after playing a great team tonight. We are going to try and build on that pace and continue to try to ratchet it up."
Colorado wraps up the Canadian trip at the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.