The Avalanche left Ball Arena with a point, but the night still had that familiar sting. Colorado beat Dallas in Dallas on Tuesday, then dragged the Stars all the way to a shootout Wednesday before falling 3-2.
Gabe Landeskog and Brock Nelson scored for the Avalanche, and Nazem Kadri provided Colorado’s lone shootout goal on four attempts. Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz both scored in the shootout for Dallas, while Scott Wedgewood was beaten twice as the Stars escaped with the win. Colorado is now 4-2-1 on the season and 2-1-1 against the Central Division.
“Every time we play these guys, it’s a close game,” head coach Jared Bednar said. “It’s a hard-fought game, and yeah, ends up in a shootout, and we just came up a little bit short. But overall effort from our guys two nights in a row was pretty solid.”
Dallas got even-strength production from Miro Heiskanen and a shorthanded goal from Arttu Hyry. That shorthanded strike was another costly one for Colorado: the Avalanche have now allowed three of them in seven games, which ties them with the Vancouver Canucks for the NHL lead.
“We want to try and nip some things in the bud and make sure we’re improving on a daily basis in every area of our game, including power play,” Bednar said.
The first period had more whistle than scoring, and it included a pair of Avalanche goals that never counted. Early on, Colorado put together a crisp rush that ended with Jaden Schwartz beating Casey DeSmith on the backhand, but Dallas successfully challenged for offside after T.J. Hughes had entered the zone ahead of the play.
Not long after, Landeskog thought he’d given the Avalanche the lead when Schwartz’s shot from the right circle deflected in off him. That one survived the initial look, but the league reviewed it for a possible kick and took it off the board after a long pause.
“If you watch it in real speed, there’s no chance I can react to that and kick that, but the guys in Toronto make the call,” Landeskog said. “Not the first time they take one away, and probably not the last one. It’s okay.”
Colorado kept pressing and eventually broke through in the second period. Sam Malinski kept a puck in at the blue line, Kadri worked it inside, and the puck went in off Landeskog for his second goal of the season at 4:55.
That lead lasted until 15:03, when Mikko Rantanen protected the puck from Landeskog and fed Heiskanen across the ice for a clean finish past Wedgewood. From there, the game turned into a tight third-period grind.
The Avalanche had their chance to regain control right away, as Rantanen was whistled for tripping to open the third. Instead of cashing in, Colorado’s power play went flat and then got burned the other way. Hyry raced away for a shorthanded breakaway and scored with the top unit on the ice.
Colorado spent the rest of the man advantage without doing much damage. Then the Avalanche ran into more bad luck when Gavin Brindley, in his season debut, rang one off the crossbar. Kadri followed by blasting a shot off the post on the next sequence.
The tying goal finally came at 8:21. Makar started the play from the point, Kadri moved it to Lehkonen, and after Thomas Harley blocked Lehkonen’s one-timer, the puck bounced to Nelson with an empty look. He buried it to make it 2-2.
Both sides had chances after that. Lehkonen got a look before regulation ended, and Fedor Svechkov had one for Dallas, but DeSmith held firm. The Stars goalie finished with 25 saves, while Wedgewood stopped 20.
Afterward, the feeling inside the Avalanche camp seemed split between satisfaction with the point and frustration with how they got there. They had to battle through waved-off goals, missed chances, and a shorthanded mistake that again exposed a problem they haven’t solved.
“It’s a hard-fought game,” Bednar said. “The overall effort from our guys two nights in a row was pretty solid.”
The power play, though, remains the big issue. The Avalanche went 0-for-3 Wednesday and gave up a shorthanded goal for the second straight night with the top unit on the ice. There’s already talk that Dave Hakstol’s departure and Brett McLean’s arrival could come as early as Thursday, and a new voice may be exactly what Colorado needs.
In Other News...
Avalanche Lose A Bench Voice At An Awkward Time For Special Teams
Dave Hakstols time on the Avalanche bench is ending at a tricky stretch for the staff, with the veteran coach coaching his final game in Colorado and then expected to move into the interim head coaching role at Arizona State University. For an Avalanche team that has leaned on every voice behind the bench, its a notable shift, and Brett McLean is set to step in and take Hakstols place on the staff.
The timing adds an extra layer to the move, since Arizona State has been searching for an experienced coach after Greg Powers was placed on administrative leave. For Colorado, the immediate takeaway is simple enough: one of the familiar voices around the room is leaving, and the Avalanche will have to adjust quickly while special teams remains under the microscope. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Suddenly Face A Bigger Problem Than Their Scoring Can Hide
The Avalanches early-season scoring has been good enough to keep most nights from feeling too heavy, but the cracks underneath are getting harder to ignore. Special teams have been the clearest issue so far, with an ineffective power play and a penalty kill sitting 15th in the league, leaving Colorado searching for cleaner structure in the moments that so often decide tight games.
The problem showed up again in the loss to Dallas, when a turnover by Cale Makar led to a shorthanded goal against, a sequence that summed up how costly the margin has become. Now there is another wrinkle to watch, with assistant coach Dave Hakstol leaving for Arizona State University and Brett McLean stepping in as his replacement, a change that could bring adjustments to how the Avalanche handle those pressure points. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Just Lost A Key Coach Behind Their Biggest Problem
The Avalanche are set to lose one of their assistant coaches as Dave Hakstol moves on to take over as Arizona States interim head coach, a change that comes after his time in Denver included helping behind the bench in a key role. The shift also carries a personal angle, with Hakstols move tied in part to his son being involved with the Sun Devils club team.
Colorado is expected to fill the opening with Brett MacLean, a former Avalanche player who has also spent time as an assistant with the Vancouver Canucks. It is another behind-the-scenes adjustment for a team that will now look to keep its coaching structure steady as one of its important bench voices heads to the college game. [Read more 🡒]