Recap: Avalanche lose to Oilers, lose Mikko Rantanen

It was a Freaky Friday for the Avs, but not in a good way.

No second-leg charm for the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.

They would fall at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place by the final score of 6-2. The Avs stuck with the Oilers in the first period but lost their touch and gave up five unanswered goals. While Colorado has been good in back-to-backs as of late, they could not muster up any of the same magic.

This loss really puts them behind the eight-ball when it comes to winning the Central Division, as they are three points behind the Dallas Stars with Dallas having a game in hand. It makes Sunday’s game against them even more important, but they may be without Mikko Rantanen, who left injured with an upper-body injury. Here’s how it all unfolded.

First Period

Edmonton stepped on the front foot early knowing the Avs were on the second half of a back-to-back. Corey Perry opened the scoring with a wicked deflection, fooling everyone and grabbing the lead after Alexandar Georgiev gave up the puck behind the net.

They kept on pushing, with a 2-on-1 missing the net on a golden opportunity. They also had two power plays to work with, but the Avalanche did a stellar job killing them off. They did have work to do though, being outshot 11-2 past the halfway point.

Work they did. Nathan MacKinnon connected with Jonathan Drouin, and similar to a tale as old as time, scored to make it 1-1.

While Colorado couldn’t convert and actually gave up a Cody Ceci shot shorthanded off the post, it didn’t rattle them. Ross Colton made it well known, beating his man and leaving Stuart Skinner out to dry to snag the lead.

The Avs played great to get the lead, but great sometimes isn’t enough. Especially when Connor McDavid is going the other way. He managed to deflect a shot from behind the net off the skate of Devon Toews and in, tying the game at two going into the room.

Second Period

The major turning point in the period came from Mattias Ekholm threw a big hit on Rantanen. He caught him cleanly, but Rantanen was not expecting it and went down hard. He went off injured and did not return. Jack Johnson tried to make Ekholm pay but did not accept the offer to fight, and instead, JJ had to sit for two minutes.

Miles Wood couldn’t score on a shorthanded breakaway, as has been a theme for him as of late. It hurt the Avs at the other end, as Ekholm rubbed salt in the wound with a bouncing goal through Georgiev. Jared Bednar challenged for goaltender interference but lost.

Colorado could not get a lot of looks at Skinner, being outshot 25-11 more than halfway through the period. Even when they got gift-wrapped opportunities from the netminder turning the puck over, Casey Mittelstadt was unable to complete the job.

Once again, this great chance went missing and hurt Colorado. In the final second, Evander Kane was able to find the rebound when Georgiev couldn’t catch the puck and made it 4-2 making it that much harder for the Avs to climb out of the deficit.

Third Period

With Rantanen confirmed missing for the rest of the game, the hockey gods did their best to even it up with Corey Perry getting a puck to the face, but quickly returned after getting some repairs. Nonetheless, it was no match for McDavid floating one beyond a sprawling Georgiev to make it a three-goal advantage.

Colorado had a couple of power plays but with no success. Valeri Nichushkin was robbed in the slot by Skinner with the paddle of his stick, just showing what this game was all about for the Avalanche. It was exemplified even further when Kane got his second of the game to somehow sneak through Georgiev.

Edmonton took their foot off the gas, and it would be all she wrote. The Avs whimpered off the ice with their tail tucked between their legs in a devastating loss to their season in more ways than one.

Takeaways

In the second half of a back-to-back, it was always going to be tough for the Avs. Particularly, when you’re going into Edmonton the night before, going through customs early in the morning, and facing an Oilers team angry after a 5-0 blowout against the Dallas Stars, the odds were stacked against them. But, Colorado has been very good on the second legs of back-to-backs as well, which is why this loss stings a little more. Alas, they have a third game in four days to prepare for and need to be on top of it. But at least they went 5-for-5 on the penalty kill tonight!

Perhaps the biggest disappointment from this game was the performance of Georgiev. While he couldn’t do much on the first two goals, the third and fourth goals by the Oilers are ones he’ll want back. Controlling both of the original shots in his glove before going back out into play may make this game a different story. Especially coming after nearly a week off, he wasn’t as sharp as some expected him to be. In this important stretch of the season with the playoffs looming large, you’d want your number-one netminder to be at his best – which has not been the case as of late.

Some other players of note: both Yakov Trenin and Valeri Nichushkin returned to the lineup from injury, but didn’t have much impact in the game in their 11:49 and 19:43 of ice time respectively. But perhaps the biggest takeaway from the game is the status of Rantanen, who did not return to the game with an upper-body injury. One of the key components of the team being out in this stretch is the worst news for Colorado. So long as it isn’t super serious, perhaps the Avs should consider shutting him down until the start of the playoffs for his benefit, especially with first in the Central Division looking more and more out of reach.

Upcoming

Perhaps an even bigger game is on the horizon late Sunday night against the Dallas Stars. It just might settle who wins the Central Division. Puck drop is at 8:00 p.m. MT on ESPN.