Colorado earned a point in an overtime loss to the Arizona Coyotes after a breakdown in the third period with a three-goal lead.
Colorado earned a point in an overtime loss to the Arizona Coyotes after a breakdown in the third period with a three-goal lead.
The Colorado Avalanche shot themselves in the foot once again after being up 4-0 through nearly two periods and allowed the Arizona Coyotes a 5-4 comeback win in overtime at Mullett Arena.
Forward Nathan MacKinnon extended his overall point streak to 19 games with two points but the team couldn't hold a four-goal lead after almost 40 minutes of play.
Mikko Rantanen and Cale Makar also earned two points each — MacKinnon and Rantanen contributed two of the Avs' four goals. Jonathan Drouin and Logan O'Connor earned the other two.
"We did a lot things right in the first two periods ... we kind of lost all of that in the third period, whether it was just work-based or we got too content," Makar said after the loss.
"At some point we have to learn, make sure it's not just on every individual, it's as a group. We need to be able to refocus and whether that's guys just taking a deep breath on the bench or what not. Clearly tonight, just seemed like we lost our game plan in the third."
The Coyotes finally got on the board with a goal from Logan Crouse after sustained pressure around the net at 3:29 in the second period.
Arizona continued that pressure and elevated the energy of its game in the third period with goals from Michael Kesselring, Jason Zucker and Sean Durzi to take the game into overtime.
"Whether it's just mentally deep down guys get a little nervous or whatnot — we just kind of kept sitting back on our heels and once that happens it is hard to get off, you're not just going to snap out of it so it kind of goes back to that execution making sure that for our systems-wise we go back to the things that makes us good," Makar said. "When one of those things is off, everything else kind of tends to sputter as well and I think that's what happened in the third it just all kind of sputtered out and it's an unfortunate one."
Coyotes forward Jack McBain knocked a midair rebound off of Alexandar Georgiev's stick to the back of the net to win it with 20 seconds left in OT.
"We blocked some shots, did some good things for a little bit but too inconsistent, guys getting wide open in routine D-zone coverage ... I'd say that some of that was self-inflicted," head coach Jared Bednar said.
Georgiev managed 22 saves to keep the Avs in the game before the team broke down in the defensive zone for the second part of the matchup.
"He had a great first couple periods ... So I mean what are you going to do — I think he gave us a really good chance to win, we just didn't follow it up in the third period as a group in front of him," Bednar said about his netminder following the loss.
The Avalanche moved into the top spot in the Central Division with the point, but face off against the St. Louis Blues — who are coming off a 2-1 win against the Dallas Stars — at the Enterprise Center on Friday night.
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