The Avalanche have yet another rally, but this one comes up short

The Colorado Avalanche certainly like coming back and stealing wins.

They did it on Tuesday night in Buffalo, rallying from an improbable 4-0 deficit to stun the Buffalo Sabres by a final score of 5-4.

Unfortunately, the Carolina Hurricanes are a Stanley Cup contender, and not a middle of the road team like Buffalo.

The Avalanche couldn’t pull off yet another stunner on Thursday night, falling in Raleigh, 5-3.

Valeri Nichushkin scored twice in the third period, once to make it 3-2 and another time to make it 4-3, but the Hurricanes buried an empty-netter with 16 seconds left to seal the deal.

The real killer was Colorado taking a too many men on the ice penalty with a little fewer than three minutes to go. Just when head coach Jared Bednar was thinking about pulling Scott Wedgewood, he had to leave him in and the Avs surrendered a power play goal that made it 4-2.

Eventually, with Wedgewood finally out his cage, Nichushkin made it interesting again, but not interesting enough.

Nichushkin scores with Wedgewood pulled and taps in his 5th of the year and his second of the game. #Avs #GoAvsGo       @MileHighHockey pic.twitter.com/1M310vRTc4

— Brennan Vogt (@brennan_vogt) December 6, 2024

And speaking of Wedgewood, he earned his first ever start in net for the Avalanche. He relieved Georgiev with the team down 4-0 against the Sabres and was brilliant, shutting Buffalo out the rest of the way. Wedgewood didn’t bring the same magic to Carolina, giving up four goals, but also making 30 saves.

A rough second period doomed Colorado after it was 1-1 following the first. The Hurricanes beat Wedgewood twice to take a 3-1 lead into the second intermission. That’s when Nichushkin turned things on, but the Avs could never find the equalizer.

This team is now a pedestrian 14-13-0 on the season, surviving injuries but still plagued by mediocre (at best) goaltending. Wedgewood was traded for to be the backup, not some miracle solution in net. He showed on Thursday night he’s a fine player, but not some permanent answer.

The Avalanche still have three games left on their second East Coast road trip of the year, and might want to start playing with the lead. That’d make these games a little less dramatic — and also more winnable.