As the Avalanche faced a team named in honor of the winning side in the Civil War, Colorado’s offense continued to go the way of the Confederacy for much of the night.
South.
It also didn’t help that Colorado goalie Andrew Raycroft, getting the start on a scheduled night off for Peter Budaj, was shaky in a 4-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
Budaj came on for the third period after Raycroft stopped only 10 of 14 shots and Colorado trailed 4-0, and the Avalanche went on to a defeat that dropped it back to .500, at 5-5-0, for the season.
The Avalanche had gone just two seconds short of 180 minutes without a goal from a forward before Paul Stastny’s power-play goal at 18:30 of the second period ruined Fredrik Norrena’s shutout bid, and it only closed the gap to 4-1. Tyler Arnason’s garbage-time goal, with 1:27 remaining, made the final score deceptively close as the Blue Jackets snapped their losing streak at three games.
Norrena finished with 30 saves.
“You have to make a save and then when you don’t, it seems to compound and it turns into one of those nights when they’re going off your skate from behind the net and it snowballs,” said Raycroft, who had won his other two starts of the season. “The bottom line is that I just wasn’t good enough.”
Raycroft was beaten for a pair of first-period goals, both high to the glove side, by Derick Brassard and Jason Chimera, and then Andrew Murray’s attempt to get the puck in front from Raycroft’s left caromed off the goalie’s skate and in to make it 3-0. Jan Hejda’s goal at 16:48 of the second period was legitimate, a decent shot from the slot.
“It was obviously not a game that he’s going to look back on and say he played well in,” Avs coach Tony Granato said of Raycroft. “He struggled.”
But the Avalanche’s lack of punch also was noticeable, until the goals that came long after the outcome wasn’t in much doubt.
“In the first six or seven games, we were getting four or five goals a night,” Granato said. “The scoring, we’ll get back to it. Sometimes you run through stretches where things don’t go in for you, you’re not making the plays you’re not sharp around the net.”
One of the big stories was the small crowd.
The Avalanche, the proud holder of the longest recorded sellout streak in NHL history at 487 games, long ago ceased filling the Pepsi Center on every home night.
But even before the attendance of 14,945 was announced Thursday, it was apparent that it might be the lowest of the team’s nine-year stay in the building, with thousands of seats empty, especially in the largely vacant upper bowl.
The Avalanche has announced sellouts for three of the five home games, but the figures for the other two — against Edmonton last week (14,898) and now for the Blue Jackets — fell far short.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
Avs Recap
Three stars
1. Derick Brassard.
The young Columbus center, 21, had his fourth goal of the season and an assist.
2. Mike Commodore.
Veteran defenseman logged 23 minutes, had an assist and continues to fit in well with Jackets.
3. Jason Chimera.
A goal and an assist for the winners.
What you might have missed
After taking a look at the concept in practice for two days, Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock used his star left wing, Rick Nash, at center for much of the first half of the game. Nash started between Chimera and Kristian Huselius.
Up next
Vs. San Jose, Sunday, 6 p.m., at the Pepsi Center
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
