For the third time in 16 days, the Colorado Avalanche squandered a multi-goal lead in the third period.
The first two still ended with two points. This one did not.
The Calgary Flames scored twice midway through the third period, and then Yegor Sharangovich had the lone tally in the shootout Monday night to defeat the Avalanche, 3-2, at Ball Arena. It is Colorado’s second straight loss after a 12-1-1 stretch.
“I didn’t think we played very well tonight,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Didn’t love our effort at times. Didn’t like the defending detail at times during the game. Then we had trouble putting the puck in the net a little bit again, so not real pleased with the way we played.”
The Avs were cruising to another home win before the pair of goals from Calgary’s fourth line. Scott Wedgewood’s shutout bid ended with 9:03 remaining in the third period.
Just as a Calgary power play was ending, Ryan Lomberg was able to nudge the puck across the line during a goal-mouth scramble. Adam Klapka tied the game 32 seconds later on a 2-on-1 with Lomberg.
“Tough one at the net front, a lot of guys around the crease,” Avs defenseman Cale Makar said. “Then we talked in the intermission about controlling the neutral zone and managing pucks better. I’m skating through the neutral zone, turned it over and it’s in the back of our net.
“That’s just how it goes. Teams are capitalizing on our mistakes right now. They aren’t happening very often, but that’s playoff hockey.”
This is the third time in a little more than two weeks where the Avs were in full control of a game and playing well defensively …. until they weren’t. Colorado allowed two goals in 20 seconds in the third period against Dallas before winning in overtime March 16.
Then the Avs allowed three goals in 3:08 during the third period March 22 in Montreal before winning that contest in a shootout.
“When you’re in the third up two, you’re in a good spot,” Avs forward Brock Nelson said. “We need to just maybe turn it up a little bit more and try to put them away.
“Can’t have that right now, especially this time of year. Closing out games and winning games is what it’s all about.”
Unlike those other two games, this wasn’t a great offensive performance before the late goals against. Two moments of individual brilliance helped Colorado to the two-goal lead.
Makar gave the Avalanche the lead late in the first period. He collected a pass from Nathan MacKinnon at the top of the left circle, juked MacKenzie Weegar to the ice, then wired a wrist shot in the top right corner of the net with Jonathan Drouin providing a screen in front at 16:31 of the opening period.
It was Makar’s 28th goal of the season, which matches both his career high and the franchise record for goals by a defenseman. Makar also had 28 in 2021-22, when he won the Norris Trophy for the first time in his career.
MacKinnon’s assist also pushed him back into sole possession of the NHL scoring lead with 110 points. Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov caught him Saturday with back-to-back four-point efforts in his previous two contests.
This is the third straight season with 110 or more points for MacKinnon. He is the 12th player in NHL history to record three consecutive years with 110-plus points. The only players with more than three in a row in a row are Wayne Gretzky (13), Mike Bossy (6), Phil Esposito (5) and Marcel Dionne (4).
The only other active player with a three-year run of 110-plus is Connor McDavid, who did it the previous three seasons. Nikita Kucherov will join MacKinnon and McDavid with three after he collects one more point.
Logan O’Connor pushed the Avs’ lead to 2-0 with his 10th goal of the season at 7:59 of the second period. Two Flames players, including former Avs center Nazem Kadri, collided in the Calgary zone, which led to Parker Kelly finding O’Connor with plenty of space near the goal line.
O’Connor carried the puck across the top of the crease, deking past Calgary defenseman Brayden Pachal and then waiting out Flames goalie Dan Vladar to sneak one inside the right post. It was O’Connor’s third goal in his past four games, which came after recently being scratched twice since the trade deadline in early March.
“They were great. I really liked that line,” Bednar said of O’Connor, Kelly and Jack Drury. “They did a nice job creating chances, suppressing chances. They worked extremely hard, as they always do.
“We need that from everybody.”
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