As the home stand begins to wrap-up, the Colorado Avalanche hosted the Anaheim Ducks at Ball Arena. Much like the previous meeting in November, it was a hard-fought game but goals were tough to come by. Both Scott Wedgewood and Lucas Dostal put on a show but the Ducks got the 2-1 win in a shootout.

The Game

It was a slow to start to the contest by both teams as they traded unsuccessful power plays and saw the first period end in a scoreless tie. Colorado did craft a 9-4 shot advantage at least.

Despite holding Anaheim to just five shots on goal through the midpoint of the game, it was the Ducks who got on the board first on a rush into the Avalanche zone. The sniper was none other than Jeff Viel, who was once an Avalanche rookie camp invite most known for fighting Josh Anderson to conclude the second to last ever Burgundy and White scrimmage game in 2016.

With 20 shots on goal through the second frame the Avalanche were a degree of snake-bit, most notably with Zakhar Bardakov getting a glorious chance on a loose puck at the net front and Ross Colton on a breakaway hoping to pot his first goal since November, but neither could get the puck over Lukas Dostal’s left leg pad.

A late power play could have changed fortunes for the Avalanche but they came up empty yet again and the second period concluded with a 1-0 Ducks lead.

Colorado came out with purposed energy in the third period but Dostal continued to stand on his head. The Ducks almost escaped with a shutout but as the clock counted down to nearly three minutes to go, Artturi Lehkonen took a cross-ice pass and buried the puck to tie the game 1-1. There was a tense moment when Scott Wedgewood had to dive back to swat a puck off the goal line minutes later but the score remained the same and the game needed overtime to resolve.

In the extra frame both goaltenders put on a show. Dostal stopped multiple point blank chances but Wedgewood faced several uncontested rushes and made the saves needed. So, on to the shootout it went.

Mikael Granlund scored right away for Anaheim then all three of Brock Nelson, Beckett Sennecke and Martin Nečas were stopped. Cutter Gauthier netted the second shootout goal for Anaheim and they sealed the 2-1 victory.

Takeaways

It was nice to see Gavin Brindley off the fourth line and he made good on the promotion setting up Colton several times. However at the end of the night he still played less than seven minutes, which isn’t going to have an impact for the Avalanche. With analytics of 80% Corsi For and 97% expected goals in this game you’d hope he’d see a little more opportunity.

Lucas Dostal made 40 saves and stopped both Colorado shootout attempts, he certainly earned his win and first star of the game. It was fun to watch Wedgewood match him save-for-save at the end of the game, which unfortunately had to be settled in a shootout. Considering the Avalanche are now 1-5 in the skills competition this season, it’s a position they hope not to be in much down the stretch.

Upcoming

One final game at home when the Philadelphia Flyers come to town on Friday, January 23rd at 7 p.m. MT. Colorado will also celebrate the 2001 Stanley Cup team.