A full-strength version of the Colorado Avalanche might be able to overcome a bad start and a night full of offensive struggles.
This version doesn’t have the same margin of error though, even against what’s expected to be one of the worst teams in the NHL. Chicago scored three times on 12 shots in the first period on Monday night at Ball Arena en route to defeating the Avs, 5-2, and ending their five-game winning streak.
“We were no good,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We weren’t as good as last night, even. We just looked tired. Execution was bad, mentally not sharp. It happens. We didn’t have any energy, right from the drop of the puck.”
Colorado is now 5-5 to start the season. It’s been a mixed bag, with an 0-4 start and this loss bookending the winning streak. The Avs played better in some of the losses than they did in a couple of the wins.
The availability issues have been a dominant storyline, and it got worse Monday night. Ross Colton — the team’s leading goal scorer with eight — didn’t play in the third period. He joined a long list of forwards who aren’t available, but this is the second loss on home ice to a team expected to be among the 3-5 worst in the NHL already this season.
Colton left the Avs’ locker room with a walking boot on his right foot.
“He’s out,” Bednar said. “He took that shot … he’s going to miss some time. We’ll get a better feel on how long it’s going to be (Tuesday) or by Wednesday morning.”
Philipp Kurashev gave Chicago an early lead with a shot from the left point on the power play at 8:47 of the first.
Casey Mittelstadt continued his excellent start to the year with a goal 89 seconds later. Logan O’Connor had the puck on the right side and found Mittelstadt as the trailer on the rush for his sixth goal of the season. Mittelstadt also has 13 points — he began the day fourth on the Avs but tied for 11th in the NHL in scoring.
Lukas Reichel put Chicago back in front 48 seconds later. He won a faceoff to the left of Alexandar Georgiev, then deflected Craig Smith’s shot. The original shot was headed for the top-left corner, but Reichel’s deflection redirected it through the goaltender’s legs.
Ryan Donato made it a 3-1 lead with a second straight goal against Colorado’s top line and defense pairing. The Avs struggled to get the puck out of their own zone, and it ended up costing them. Mikko Rantanen blocked the first shot, but it went to Jason Dickinson in the right circle. Donato pounced on the rebound of Dickinson’s shot in part because Cale Makar had lost his stick and couldn’t tie up the Chicago forward in front of the net.
It was one of the worst periods for the Avalanche this season, though Nathan MacKinnon did cut the deficit to one goal when scored on a 5-on-3 power play with 43 seconds left. Colorado was lucky to escape the period down only 3-2, given that Chicago had a 14-7 advantage in scoring chances and 11 of the 14 high-danger shot attempts.
“I think we made it harder on ourselves than we should have, especially in the first period,” O’Connor said. “It felt like we were turning tons of pucks over in the middle of the ice. We couldn’t get in on the forecheck, which is sort of the staple of our game right now.”
The Avs tightened up without the puck in the final two periods, but it was a struggle all night to generate offense. Up and down the lineup, passes went astray and the home side was unable to find the high-quality scoring opportunities Colorado typically creates.
“I think we had a lot of possession time tonight, but not a lot of internal (ice) play,” Makar said. “Everything that we had was just along the boards, kind of rolling around the top (of the zone) and around the boards. Some nights it goes like that, but we’ve got to do a better job of getting it to the net.”
Chicago added a pair of empty-net goals in the final minute to end any doubt. The Avs have a day off to regroup, but they could be even more shorthanded in the coming days until Artturi Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin return, with Valeri Nichushkin a possibility in the second half of next month.
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