LAS VEGAS — This looked like it would be the type of dominant performance the Colorado Avalanche needed to shake off an embarrassing one from the day before.
In the end, it was another potentially crushing defeat.
One day after getting booed off the ice at Ball Arena, the Avs went to the home of the defending champions Sunday and blew a three-goal lead against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena, losing 4-3 in overtime.
Jack Eichel scored during a 4-on-3 power play in overtime after Josh Manson had been sent to the penalty box with 11 seconds left in regulation. Colorado took a 3-0 lead into the second intermission, but Vegas roared back with a trio of tallies in the third.
Alexandar Georgiev made 17 saves through two periods, including a couple of huge ones to protect the lead late in the second. The defense in front of Georgiev looked significantly better for 40 minutes than it was in a 7-0 dismantling Saturday by the Winnipeg Jets.
Then Ivan Barbashev scored on a wraparound early in the third. And William Karlsson struck on the power play. Karlsson added another off the rush with 3:37 left in regulation. Three goals on seven shots and the lead was gone.
It looked like a 180-degree turnaround from the day before when the Avs’ season appeared to be in shambles — until it didn’t. Everything about the team’s performance looked shakier after Vegas finally got on the board.
The point gives Colorado a slim hope of still finishing in second place in the Central Division, but it’s still overwhelmingly likely the Avs will travel to Winnipeg to start the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs instead of welcoming the Jets back to Denver.
Ross Colton put Colorado on the board 7:26 into the first period. It was a solid team transition maneuver, starting with Cale Makar and Miles Wood. Colton threw the puck at the net from along the boards, and Vegas goalie Adin Hill didn’t handle it.
Makar made it a 2-0 lead a little more than three minutes later. Nathan MacKinnon lost a defender in the right corner with a cutback move and then sent the puck out to the left point for Makar.
It was Makar’s 21st goal of the season, which is second among NHL defensemen. His two points extended his franchise record at the position to 89 and left him two shy of the league lead in that category as well. MacKinnon’s assist was point No. 138, one shy of the franchise record set by Peter Stastny in 1981-82.
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Mikko Rantanen, in his second game back from a concussion, scored his 41st goal of the season for the new-look second line to give Colorado a three-goal advantage in the second period.
For two periods, this looked like another “they’ve still got it” performance after some seriously shaky outings in the past month. Colorado is now 4-5-1 in its past 10 games, but how the Avalanche has looked has often felt as important as the result — in both directions.
There have been wild swings from game to game, but maybe not as wild as the one inside this contest. The Avs looked like a team that could bow out meekly once the postseason begins in losses to Edmonton, Dallas and Winnipeg. They’ve looked like a complete, dominant team in two wins against Minnesota and for two-thirds of this effort in Sin City.
The only certainty about the Avs right now is they have one game left in the regular season. They’ll likely only play one game in the next six of seven days, so there will be time to work on the issues that continue to plague them.
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