Postgame Wrap-Up: Not Enough Jump

COLUMBUS, Ohio--The Colorado Avalanche had a sluggish start to its first road trip of the season.
Colorado lost its first road contest 5-2 on Tuesday at Nationwide Arena after the Columbus Blue Jackets had a strong first period and closed the night with an equally good third. The Jackets had a 17-9 edge in shots after the opening 20 minutes and a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard.

Columbus had three power plays in the first period and finished 1-for-6 with the man advantage.
"I don't want to take anything away from Columbus because they had a good first period, but we stood around. We weren't ready to start," said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. "You stand around, you're not ready to start, it is pretty easy to move the puck around against you. It is also the reason why we had three penalties in five, six minutes in the first period. If you're not moving your legs, you're not skating to check, then teams are going to move it around and you're going to take penalties. That's what happened."

The Avs responded after the initial intermission with a much better second frame, getting back to what made them successful in the first two contests of the 2018-19 campaign. The team outshot the Blue Jackets and equaled the score with goals from Nathan MacKinnon and Carl Soderberg.
"We want to make sure that we come on the road with the same game that we played for the first two at home," said Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog. "The start wasn't the same, and the second period we started going north and tracking back harder and started winning pucks in our D-zone to create some offense."

Things started to snowball against the Avalanche in the third period after Artemi Panarin tallied the game-winner at 5:14. Nick Foligno and Josh Anderson (empty net) also scored in the stanza.
"The disappointing part, not only the start for me, but then we repeated some mistakes that we've seen, on-rush coverage, we're not reloading and tracking quick enough," Bednar said. "They're putting four on the rush, and they end up breaking it open on us in the third in what was a tie game. Once you get down one, you have to press. We press too much, and they make a couple more plays. Next thing you know it's a three-goal hockey game."
Colorado will get plenty of chances over the next few weeks to work out the kinks as the road team. It plays 11 of its first 17 contests as the visiting club, with a Thursday game at the Buffalo Sabres being up next.
"It starts with the work," Bednar said. "That is what we had at home, and that's what we didn't have to start the game tonight. We spotted a team two goals and then clawed back into it."
MACK STREAKING:Nathan MacKinnon tallied for the third straight game, extending his career-long goal streak to begin a new season. The forward had never scored in the first two games to start a campaign until he found the back of the net on Thursday versus the Minnesota Wild and Saturday versus the Philadelphia Flyers.
His team-leading third marker was a beauty as he shot the puck through Gabriel Landeskog's legs and off the crossbar 3:27 into the second frame.

GRUBAUER'S FIRST LOOK: Philipp Grubauer made his Avalanche debut in goal and finished with 30 saves on 34 shots. Despite allowing four pucks to get by him while in the crease, Bednar didn't put the blame on his keeper.
"I got to be honest with you, we hang him out to dry on a number of those goals… I thought he was sharp and making saves for us early, not much you can do on some of those," the Avs coach said.
"I feel bad for him because we got to be better than that in front of any goalie."
The German netminder was busy early as he faced 17 shots in the opening period.
Grubauer was acquired by the Avalanche in the offseason after helping the Washington Capitals win the Stanley Cup. His last meaningful game came against Columbus in Game 2 of Washington's first-round series.
CALVERT HONORED:Colorado forward Matt Calvert played his first game back in Columbus on Tuesday and was honored by the Blue Jackets with a highlight tribute video during the second media timeout of the first period.
Drafted in the fifth round (No. 127 overall) of the 2008 NHL Draft by Columbus, Calvert recorded 149 points (72 goals and 77 assists) in 416 games over the course of eight seasons. He also tallied six goals and four assists in 16 Stanley Cup Playoff outings. The Brandon, Manitoba, native signed a three-year contract with the Avalanche on July 1 after becoming an unrestricted free agent.
"It was a great tribute. Obviously spent a long time here," Calvert said. "Definitely emotional and great cheer from the fans; definitely owe a lot to them. It was great to see."

Calvert was also part of the Avalanche's starting lineup, as head coach Jared Bednar put the left wing out for the opening faceoff, even though he wasn't with his usual linemates.
Defenseman Ian Cole was also playing Columbus for the first time after spending 20 regular-season games and six playoff contests with the club at the end of last season.
MORE NOTABLES:Carl Soderberg's goal in the second period marked the 200th point of his NHL career and was his fourth (two goals and two assists) in the first three games of the season. It was the first time he's registered a point in the first three contests to begin a year. Soderberg has scored 65 goals and 135 assists in 403 career outings with the Avalanche and Boston Bruins.
J.T. Compher's assist on Soderberg goal extended his point streak to three games after he tallied in each of Colorado's first two contests. His three-game point streak ties a career long that he set about a year ago (Oct. 7-11, 2017).
Erik Johnson had another assist and now leads the team with four helpers on the year.
Mikko Rantanen is on a three-game point streak to begin the season after assisting on Nathan MacKinnon's goal.