The Avalanche wasted an excellent performance by goalie Darcy Kuemper and lost 4-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night at Nationwide Arena. Colorado fell to 4-5-1 through 10 games, with a four-day break until its next game Thursday against the visiting Vancouver Canucks.
Five takeaways:
Excellent effort in net. Kuemper faced 41 shots and made 38 saves. He was not the problem. The Avs took a 2-1 lead into the third period for the second consecutive game — both against Columbus — and allowed 16 shots in the final 20 minutes.
Kuemper allowed the game-tying goal to Alexandre Texier off an odd dump-in bounce in the corner with 6:23 remaining — with Texier out-skating defenseman Sam Girard to gain the puck and putting it off the far post and in — and the game-winner came off Cole Sillinger’s deflection that Kuemper didn’t see with just 1:02 to go.
Columbus added an empty-net goal to complete a 2-0 stretch against the Avs, who fell 5-4 in overtime to the Blue Jackets on Wednesday at Ball Arena.
“Darcy was our best player,” Avs winger Mikko Rantanen said postgame. “But he needs help from us. In the third, I felt we didn’t have our legs. We didn’t create a lot until they tied the game. A lot of gliding, not physical enough. Very disappointing. Not the way to win games in the NHL.”
Powerless. Colorado was 0-for-4 on the power play, finishing 0-of-7 against the Blue Jackets in the two-game set, and is now 4-for-39 (10.5%, ranked 29th in the 32-team league) on the season. The Avs are the preseason Stanley Cup favorites and their power play should be highly productive. But their inability to capitalize on the man-advantage is a big reason why they’re below .500 through 10 games.
Burakovsky. Second-line left winger Andre Burakovsky had two goals, both at even-strength. But he was on the ice for Columbus’ first two goals and finished with a zero rating. Burakovsky only had two shots, and he made both count, but he’s certainly part of the problem as the Avs continue to turn pucks over and can’t find a cohesive two-way game.
Burakovsky made two nice plays to score goals. But he continues to be a liability with the puck when he’s not in scoring areas.
“We mismanaged pucks,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We didn’t execute on our exits.”
No excuses. The injury-plagued Avs were without six regulars in Wednesday’s OT loss but had three of them return on Saturday. Rantanen had missed three games with a lower-body injury but produced a team-high six shots. Burakovsky was back in the top-six after missing Wednesday’s game. And defenseman Devon Toews made his season debut after off-season shoulder surgery and logged 21:08, second-most on the team behind partner Bo Byram (22:24).
Yet, the Avs were outshot for the sixth time in 10 games and stand three points outside a playoff spot.
Shots through traffic. Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski had a game-high 10 shots, and the Blue Jackets’ blueline combined for 14 — seven more than the entire Avalanche defensive corps. Colorado is missing top-pair defenseman Cale Makar and it shows. Byram and Toews are a solid first-pairing but they only produced one shot. Colorado’s inability to get more shots through traffic on goalie Elvis Merzlikins limited its second-chance opportunities.
Footnote. The Avs are expected to take Sunday off and practice on Monday at Family Sports Center.
