Recap: Avalanche slump to 4-2 loss in Columbus

7 months ago  /  Mile High Hockey

Photo by Jason Mowry/Getty Images


Colorado never got going in this one. To begin the last road trip of the regular season the Colorado Avalanche visited the Columbus Blue Jackets in a rematch of their runaway victory a couple weeks prior. In this contest quite the opposite unfolded as Columbus crafted a 4-1 win as they pushed Colorado away from the net.
The Game
Those hoping for fireworks in the first period were disappointed as the game remained scoreless after 20 minutes of play. Each team earned an overlapping power play with some 4-on-4 time but came up empty. The Avalanche nearly doubled Columbus in shots 12-7 but some better scoring chances were needed if the visitors were going to break the game open.
After another sleepy start to a period, it was the Blue Jackets who broke through in the second frame. Kirill Marchenko slipped the puck through Justus Annunen’s five hole at 9:35 to grab the lead at the halfway point. That wasn’t enough for the Avalanche to wake up as Columbus got the next goal off the rush from Alex Nylander at 14:12.
At least the Avalanche received a late power play to in theory help momentum swing back their way but instead the Blue Jackets just got another goal from Nylander with just under two minutes left. After two periods of play Columbus had amassed a 3-0 lead. The Avalanche have come back to win in quite a few games lately, could they do it again?
The third period began with another fruitless power play but it took a great tip and bounce for Chris Wagner to get the team in burgundy finally on the board at 4:39. A fourth power play couldn’t get the Avalanche on the board and then time began to dwindle. Annunen was pulled in favor of the extra attacker with about three minutes to go and then Colorado gave up the fourth and final goal into the empty cage at 18:27 to Cole Sillinger. Despite firing 47 shots on net the Avalanche fell 4-1 in Columbus.

Takeaways
This was clearly a game where an ineffective power play probably cost the Avalanche a victory. Despite getting heavily outshot 47-25 Columbus kept Colorado to the perimeter and didn’t break down near as much as they did in the game in Denver. Couple those two factors and the Avalanche offense never got off the ground. They were lucky to not get shutout with the lone goal from the least likely source — Chris Wagner.
Speaking of, Yakov Trenin was a surprise scratch for some unknown reason and also nobody knows where Joel Kiviranta is so that led to the recall and insertion of Chris Wagner into tonight’s lineup. Jean-Luc Foudy played as well in theory but he received only six shifts — half in the first period — so did he really even play?
Despite what Jared Bednar said about this being a scheduled start for Annunen, with a back-to-back coming up it’s a little hard to believe the young goaltender was intended to start more than Alexandar Georgiev this week. Either way, it was a bit of a reward for Annunen but the team in front of him wasn’t up to the task to get him another win. Annunen himself also wasn’t as sharp as he’s been in the past either.

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