SUNRISE, Fla. — The Avalanche continued its Southeast Division sojourn Tuesday night here at the BankAtlantic Center, where it was “1996 Retro Night” with the Florida Panthers.
Unlike that magical June night of 1996 when the Avs won a Stanley Cup in South Florida, the Avs skated off the ice with hangdog looks, dropping their third overtime decision in the last four games.
The final was 4-3, on Stephen Weiss’ goal 43 seconds into the extra session. The Avs blew two leads in the game, including a 3-2 advantage early in the third period after Matt Duchene scored his sixth goal in the past seven games.
“It’s tough to put a finger on it right now.” Duchene said. “We’ve got to tighten up a little bit everywhere right now.”
The Avs got a point for the second time on their five-game road trip, but nobody was happy about this one. The Avs came into the contest hungry to get back in the win column, but every time they seemed to have things going in the right direction in getting there, they let up and let Florida back in it.
“I thought the game tonight was better than the last game, but we still need to be better, no question,” Avs coach Joe Sacco said. “It’s tough when you score a goal and give up a goal on a (shift) right after. You score a goal, you want to keep that momentum.”
The Avs were downright terrible in the 43 extra seconds. Play was in the Colorado end the whole time, with a lost faceoff leading to a scrambling situation in their own end. On a delayed penalty, Weiss grabbed a rebound on the left side of the net and slid it in from a tough angle past a prone Craig Anderson.
“It’s disappointing for our guys not to get two points,” Anderson said. “Our guys are trying, but our guys have got to work a little bit smarter. Guys have to be on the same page, and I think (in OT) guys were on their own pages a little bit and not communicating.”
A killer goal in this one was David Booth’s equalizer soon after Duchene put a wrist shot through the 5-hole of Tomas Vokoun at 1:59, after bursting down the right side.
At the 4:11 mark, Booth made a sensational move between the Avs’ defense of Kyle Quincey and Kevin Shattenkirk, and beat Anderson with a wrist shot from the middle of the ice.
“He got by, and he’s got a good shot,” Anderson said of Booth. “His wrister is almost as hard as anyone on our team who takes a slap shot. You’ve got to respect that. I think if our ‘D’ could do it over, they would have gone to him a little bit earlier, but credit to him. Perfect shot, inside the post, just out of the reach of my glove.”
The Avs also got goals from John-Michael Liles and Ryan O’Reilly, who gave the Avs a short-lived 2-1 lead early in the second.
“In OT, it really comes down to 1-on-1 plays and not getting beat,” Sacco said. “We were too passive when we lost the faceoff. We’ve got to forecheck better than that, then we just got beat in 1-on-1 battles from there.”
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
Avs Recap
The Post’s three stars
1. Stephen Weiss.
Scored twice for Florida, including the OT winner.
2. David Booth.
Panthers winger scored a big goal to tie it in third.
3. Matt Duchene.
Scored a goal for the sixth time in seven game.
What you might have missed
Kevin Shattenkirk’s nine-game point streak came to an end for the Avs.
Up next
At Atlanta, Friday at 5:30 p.m.
Adrian Dater, The Denver Post
