Drama early and late gave Nashville the 4-3 victory.
One last stop on a four-game road trip, the Colorado Avalanche were hoping to end the jaunt on a high note but that didn’t come to fruition as they lost in a shootout to the Nashville Predators by a score of 4-3. This one was a doozy with high drama in both the opening and closing minutes with a real lull in the middle.
Cale Makar scored his elusive power play goal to send the game into overtime with eight seconds remaining. Ryan O’Reilly netted the lone shootout marker to give Nashville the win.
The Game
It was an eventful start to say the least with four goals scored at the net front in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Brock Nelson took advantage of some lackadaisical defending to put the visitors up by one just a minute into the contest. Jonathan Marchessault gathered his own rebound off of the returning Scott Wedgewood to quickly tie the game for Nashville three minutes later. Ninety seconds after that Nelson gave one back with some poor coverage on Reid Schaefer. Finally, Artturi Lehkonen worked his magic at the net front to get the Avalanche back to an even score at 2-2 by the halfway mark. And that’s how the first period would end after the flurry of goals concluded.
The second period was a stark contrast as no goals were scored. Colorado received three power plays, just about all in a row at the end of the period but couldn’t convert so the game remained tied 2-2 after 40 minutes of play.
Action started to heat up again in the third period when Brady Skjei fired a low shot which went post-and-in just over the halfway point of the period. From there Nashville tried to shut the door, which almost worked until they took a penalty with under two minutes remaining. With the extra attacker the Avalanche flirted around the perimeter but a Cale Makar shot from the blue line finally found it’s way to the back of the net got his first power play goal of the season and sent the game into overtime with the score tied 3-3.
Nashville held a slight advantage in shots 5-4 in the extra frame as the play went back-and forth. The real drama ensued when the shootout began, however.
Ryan O’Reilly went first in the skills competition and put a tally on the board for Nashville. Martin Nečas missed his shot and then Filip Forsberg missed as well. But in the process Forsberg ran right over Scott Wedgewood who seemed a little stunned by the hard contact. Then Val Nichushkin’s shot was saved by Juuse Saros, Steven Stamkos missed his shot as well so it was up to Gabe Landeskog to give it one last shot for Colorado. Right before beginning his turn the officials notified the Avalanche bench that Wedgewood was being pulled by the concussion spotters and Mackenzie Blackwood was summoned to take his place in the Avalanche net. Landeskog then missed his shot and the game was over 4-3 in favor of Nashville.
Takeaways
The stars shone bright in this contest and nearly burned out. Cale Makar played over 30 minutes in this game Nathan MacKinnon over 28 minutes himself. Six forwards didn’t even get to the 13 minute mark. If you can’t trust your depth to beat the worst team in the league at the end of a long road trip do you truly have depth?
It’s curious as to why Gavin Brindley was taken off injured reserve but didn’t play in this contest. Yes, Martin Nečas was a game-time decision with illness and then eventually suited up but it shouldn’t take someone unable to play to get Brindley back in action. Zakhar Bardakov played five minutes in this game. If Brindley is really a key part of this lineup then why didn’t he play?
With his assist on the Lehkonen goal, Nathan MacKinnon became the first player in the NHL to score 50 points this season in his 900th career NHL game. MacKinnon was also first to the milestone last season as well. Congrats, Nate!
Upcoming
A meeting at Ball Arena with the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers is on tap. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 11th.
Category: General Sports
