Avalanche blow two goal lead, lose to Ducks 5-4 in OT - Mile High Hockey

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The Avalanche, after scoring four unanswered goals, blow their own two goal advantage to an OT loss to the Ducks by the final score of 5-4. Troy Terry played a phenomenal game for the Ducks, scoring two goals and an assist to lift his Ducks squad.

The game looked to be a carbon-copy of Friday night’s matchup, when the Avalanche fell behind 2-0 and came back again to tie it 2-2 before the end of the second period. After being the better team in the first half of the third period and gaining a two-goal lead, the Avs plummeted and broke down to defeat in OT.

The Game

1st Period:

With the Ducks missing Trevor Zegras and the Avs missing J.T. Compher, both teams would be looking to get ahead early. With the Avalanche struggling to get the puck out of their zone, it led to a quick goal off the face-off for the Ducks from Rickard Rakell to make it 1-0.

Despite having 11 shots on goal, the Avalanche could not do much going forward. They did not have many clear-cut chances compared to the Ducks. Val Nichushkin continued his form, having one good chance stopped by Ryan Miller a third of the way through the frame. The Ducks looked the far superior team heading into the dressing room and would try to continue this momentum into the middle frame.

2nd Period:

Despite the Avs getting more shots to Miller early on, Troy Terry absolutely undressed Jacob MacDonald and Hunter Miska to put the puck into a wide open net to give the Ducks a 2-0 lead with 15:34 left in the frame.

Similar to last night’s matchup, the next goal would be crucial to the game. After a great power play couldn’t be converted, Logan O’Connor flew off the bench past the defense of the Ducks and rang the puck off the iron and into the net to make it a 2-1 game with 7:54 left.

The fourth line came alive towards the end of the period, creating several chances to tie the game. It would come on the power play, when a shot from Samuel Girard was put in by Mikko Rantanen behind the goal line off of Miller to tie the game 2-2.

The Avalanche would draw a penalty with 4.8 seconds left in the period as well, which would carry over to start the third. Through two periods, this matchup was an exact carbon-copy of the game on Friday night. The Avs would be looking for the exact same result as Friday night as they entered the third.

3rd Period:

After failing to convert on the power play to start the third period, the Avalanche would convert from the new Nichushkin-Landeskog-Rantanen line that Jared Bednar had been trying all game. A screen in front of Miller let Rantanen shoot from the point and give the Avs a 3-2 lead.

Not even 30 seconds later, Brandon Saad would go to the front of the net again and stuff it home from Burakovsky to take a 4-2 lead.

With the Avalanche being the better team in the period, Miller stood on his head to keep his team in the game. He made three remarkable saves, including a windmill save on Jayson Megna. This allowed Terry to score unassisted with 6:57 left to make it 4-3.

A costly penalty by Burakovsky would allow Kevin Shattenkirk to score with 2:50 left to tie the game for a second time.

With the Avs blowing the two-goal lead, it would send the game into OT for the second night in the row.

Overtime:

The Avalanche would take a costly penalty from Rantanen just under a minute into OT for tripping. It would lead to a power play goal on a deflection from Ryan Getzlaf to give the Ducks a 5-4 win and grab the extra point.

Takeaways

The Avalanche once again fell behind early in the game. While they came back once again, this cannot be a new trend for the Avs. It will come back to bite them to the point where they can’t get back into games some nights.

Rantanen was missing in action until his power play goal in the second period. He ended with two goals and had the eventual penalty to lead to the Avs defeat in the extra frame.

Girard continues to be one of the best players, if not, the best player on the roster right now. He continues to shake off defenders with his beautiful skating, creating chances and opening ice for his teammates to create great opportunities moving forward.

During the second intermission, it was announced that Erik Johnson had been put on the LTIR for cap purposes. The Condor will be out for an extended period of time after taking a hard hit in Minnesota a month and a half ago.

Up Next

The Avalanche continue their nine-game home stand by welcoming the Arizona Coyotes to town on Monday night. Puck drop is set for 7 PM MT.

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March 07, 2021 at 11:21AM
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Avalanche blow two goal lead, lose to Ducks 5-4 in OT - Mile High Hockey
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