The Avalanche closed out a busy pre-holiday week Saturday night with its opponent celebrating another comeback win at the Pepsi Center.
Colorado had outscored the Chicago Blackhawks 16-6 in the previous three meetings and took a two-goal lead into the third period Saturday. But then the Avs collapsed when it counted most for the second time this week.
The Blackhawks scored three third-period goals to skate off 5-3 winners. Patrick Kane, Kirby Dach and Dominik Kubalik scored within a six-minute span late in the latter half of the third period, and the visitors tacked on an empty-net tally.
“I don’t know what it is. Pretty solid defensively the whole game and we didn’t handle their wave,” said Avs goalie Philipp Grubauer, who allowed three goals on 10 third-period shots. “There were a couple major breakdowns so we have to figure that out for sure … Tough pill to swallow for sure.”
Colorado blew a 1-0 third-period lead Thursday in a 3-1 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes.
“Long way from good enough, I’ll tell you that,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said. “I don’t know what’s going on right now. We just seem to be fragile mentally for some reason. I don’t think we have reason to be. You drop one at home at Carolina, a really good hockey team — and so is Chicago when they start feeling the puck and we don’t play we want to play.
“We got to stick to what’s working. But that’s frustrating. I got to sit down and watch it and see what happened. It’s not just the breakdowns on the goals. We’re just not playing good overall. But it’s not the end of the world for us. We should be confident moving forward.”
Matt Calvert scored two goals for Colorado. Defenseman Ryan Graves had the Avs’ first goal and assisted on Calvert’s first goal that broke a 1-1 tie.
Nathan MacKinnon saw his seven-game points streak end.
“We got a little stubborn with the puck in the third period. Actually, we got stubborn with the puck in the second period,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “The commitment from our forwards to come help our D (was a problem). They’re down, so they’re putting four, five guys down on the rush.”
The Avs were without rookie defenseman Cale Makar for the seventh consecutive game because of an upper-body injury, believed to be his left shoulder. But Makar participated in Saturday’s morning skate and could return Monday at the Vegas Golden Knights.
Colorado will begin its three-day Christmas break Tuesday and then return to action Friday against the Minnesota Wild at the Pepi Center.
Footnote. MacKinnon on Saturday was named Central Division captain for next month’s NHL All-Star Game weekend in St. Louis. MacKinnon is an all-star for the fourth straight year and Central Division captain for the second year in a row. He did not play last year because of a minor injury. The other divisional captains are Edmonton’s Connor McDavid (Pacific), Boston’s David Pastrnak (Atlantic) and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (Metropolitan). The full all-star rosters will be released in the coming weeks. … Avs defenseman Nikita Zadorov was in the starting lineup despite being benched late in Thursday’s 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Zadorov was benched for inappropriate off-ice conduct.
