Avalanche surrender 2-0 lead and then some in blowout loss to Sharks
Mar 2, 2021, 7:12 AM
Too often this season, the Avalanche can’t seem to stand success.
After taking a 2-0 lead in the second period on Gabriel Landeskog’s power-play goal, the Avalanche seemed to get complacent, and instead of burying a likely game-ending goal, they surrendered a pair to the Sharks and found themselves tied after two periods.
From then on, San Jose unleashed an avalanche of goals that buried Colorado with a 4-0 third period, sending the visiting Avalanche to a frustrating, unnecessary loss in the tight West division.
“Our first period, we came out, we competed, we played hard, we were doing the right things. We were putting pucks in behind their (defense) and going to work. We were hanging onto to pucks in the offensive zone, skating, making it tough for them to defend and forcing them to defend in their own zone and using our skill and our speed and our legs. We drew some penalties, got some power plays and had some good scoring chances,” explained Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. “We came out and started the second the same way, and then — when we built the 2-0 lead after the power-play goal — we got stubborn and we turned the puck over, tried to score on the rush, got fancy and got away from our game plan. Guys are saying the right things on the bench, but the next line up was going out and kind of repeating the same mistakes. We had way too many turnovers.”
Those turnovers led to easy goals like the one that John Leonard’s. A Colorado pass in the San Jose zone was sent back to blueliner Ryan Graves, who misplayed it, only to be caught flat-footed as Leonard streaked past Graves for a breakaway against a helpless Philipp Grubauer. The Sharks’ Leonard easily slipped the puck past Grubauer to make it 5-2 and deliver the dagger to the Avs’ chances.
The crestfallen Avalanche skated back to their locker room, where Mikko Rantanen summarized the disappointing night. “It’s very frustrating.”
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NEXT UP: Avalanche (11-7–1, 23 pts) at Sharks (8-9-2, 18 pts) | Wednesday, Mar. 3 at 8:30 p.m.
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TEAM NOTES
• The Avalanche were without their pair of wunderkind defenseman on Monday when Bowen Byram was scratched after the morning skate with what was called an upper-body injury. Colorado was already without Cale Makar, who has an upper-body injury of his own. The two were sorely missed during the final, fateful two periods.
• Due to their COVID-19 related schedule suspension earlier in the season, March will be the busiest month in team history. The Avalanche will play 17 games in 31 days this month, with no more than a day’s rest between any of them.
• The Avalanche lost 6-2 on Monday despite outshooting the Sharks, 35-27.
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PLAYER NOTES
• Gabriel Landeskog’s goal was the 203rd of his career, passing fellow Swede Peter Forsberg for the third-most in Avalanche history. “I had three or four posters of ‘Foppa’ growing up in my room. It goes without saying that he was a big role model for me, and somebody I looked up to,” Landeskog said on Saturday. “It’s nothing you set as a goal to tie one of your idols in an Avs sweater — or to pass him for that matter — but I’m sure when it’s all said and done, it’s going to be cool.” Monday’s goal on the power play also tied Forsberg on the team’s all-time list with 54.
• Nathan MacKinnon assisted on Gabriel Landeskog’s power-play goal, registering his 16th assist of the season and the 321st of his career, tying him with Alex Tanguay for fourth place on the Avalanche’s all-time list.
• Philipp Grubauer’s play has fallen off of late. Grubauer, who sports a 91.5 save percentage on the season, has been below that in three of his last four games, including Monday. Grubauer allowed five goals on 26 shots (80.8 percent). The Avalanche have lost all three of those games, and may need to give him more rest during a taxing month of March.
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THE FINAL WORD
“We kind of gave this one to them. We gave up too many chances again.” — Mikko Rantanen
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INJURY WATCH
• Dennis Gilbert (facial injury) was placed on injured reserve on Feb. 20. He is expected to be out until at least late March.
• Kiefer Sherwood (unspecified) missed the Feb. 16 game and has not played since.
• Erik Johnson (upper-body injury) left the Jan. 30 game and is week-to-week.
• Matt Calvert (concussion symptoms) has not played since Jan. 24. On Jan. 28, coach Jared Bednar said he will be cautious regarding his timetable for return.
• Pavel Francouz (lower-body injury) has yet to play this season and remains on injured reserve.
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LAST NIGHT’S LINES
FORWARDS:
Top Line: LW Gabriel Landeskog, C Nathan MacKinnon, RW Mikko Rantanen
Second Line: LW Brandon Saad, C Nazem Kadri, RW Andre Burakovsky
Third Line:, LW Valeri Nichushkin, C J.T. Compher, RW Joonas Donskoi
Fourth Line: LW Tyson Jost, C Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, RW Logan O’Connor
DEFENSEMEN:
Top Pair: LD Ryan Graves, RD Samuel Girard
Second Pair: LD Devon Toews, RD Jacob McDonald
Third Pair: LD Dan Renouf, RD Conor Timmins
GOALTENDERS:
Starter: Philipp Grubauer
