A point was gained and first place maintained. But that wasn’t much solace to Avalanche coach Joe Sacco, who is getting tired of talking about slow starts and shaky endings for his team.
The Avs did get the point in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Nashville Predators in front of another sparse Pepsi Center crowd (12,356) Wednesday night. But it was a first period in which Colorado was outscored 2-0 and outshot 10-3 that had Sacco steamed afterward.
“We’ve just got to be ready to play. We’ve got to be better than that in the first period,” Sacco said. “It’s disappointing, anytime you lose that extra point at home.”
Nashville, which won its seventh straight game, got that extra point when David Legwand poked a loose puck just past the goal line of Colorado’s Craig Anderson at 3:07. The Predators outshot the Avs 4-0 in OT, and 27-22 for the game, but Colorado had a 3-2 lead late in the second period after Marek Svatos’ pretty sixth goal of the season.
But just when the Avs looked to be taking control, with the lead and on the power play, Svatos was called for interference at 16:50 and Nashville’s Shea Weber tied it on the power play.
The Avs managed only six shots on net the rest of the game, and Sacco was unhappy that Nashville seemed the more aggressive team in the late going.
“We’ve got to generate more offense,” he said. “We came out strong in the second period and got ourselves back in the game, but we can’t come out like we did.”
Several forwards had off nights for the Avs, including Wojtek Wolski, David Jones, Ryan O’Reilly and Paul Stastny — all of whom got only one shot on net each. Wolski was dropped off the first line with Stastny and Jones by the third period, and rookie Matt Duchene has yet to score a goal at home this season. Duchene did come close to scoring in the final minute but just missed on a turnaround, wraparound bid.
Anderson has allowed four or more goals in four of his last five starts, and has been the subject of lots of banging in his crease by the opposition. He hasn’t griped much about it, but did feel he was interfered with on Legwand’s game-winner.
“We have to do it to them because they are doing it to us,” Anderson said. “But it’s not up to me, it’s up to the GMs, if they feel it needs to be addressed. We came out flat and gave them a two-goal lead and we can’t do that and expect to win games. If we come out and play a steady first period, I think we have a two-goal lead going into the third instead of being tied 3-3.”
One Avs player who escaped criticism was rookie defenseman Ryan Wilson, who scored a nice goal off the rush and was a plus-1 and blocked four shots.
“I saw a spot where I could jump in the play and (Milan) Hejduk hit me with a good pass and saw a hole,” Wilson said. “But we have to start a little quicker. It takes a lot out of you trying to come back.”
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
AVS RECAP
The Post’s three stars
1. Shea Weber.
Predators defenseman scored a goal and added an assist.
2. Milan Hejduk.
Scored a goal and added an assist for Avs.
3. Jason Arnott.
Had two assists for Nashville.
What you might have missed
Former Av Uwe Krupp, honored Monday by the Avs, remained in town and was at the game.
Up next
At Minnesota, Friday at noon
Adrian Dater, The Denver Post
