DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche previewed its potential first-round playoff matchup with a letdown defeat against the Nashville Predators.
Colorado fell 5-4 in a shootout to Nashville on Thursday in the regular season finale at Ball Arena. Predators forward Matt Duchene, formerly with the Avalanche (2009-17), was the only player to score in the shootout. Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Nazem Kadri all missed for the Avalanche.
It’s possible the teams will meet again with the Avs locked into the top seed in the Western Conference, and either Nashville or Dallas in line for the eighth seed. The Avalanche (56-18-7) has one more game, at Minnesota on Friday, before embarking on the postseason. Colorado has set a franchise record with 119 points on the year to surpass the 2001 Stanley Cup championship team.
But the Avs are in search of positive momentum after a late debacle Thursday.
The Predators — after trailing 2-0 early in the night — tied the game, 4-4, with 15:49 left in the third period on a Matthias Ekholm shot past Colorado starting goalie Darcy Kuemper. The Avs’ penalty kill held strong over the final minutes of regulation to force overtime. Neither team scored in the extra period before Colorado fell in the shootout.
Cale Makar jump-started the night with a power-play goal at just 2:01 into the opening period. Kadri won a faceoff in the Nashville zone, Makar retrieved the puck, circled to the high slot and fired a wrister past Nashville goalie David Rittich. Colorado kept the pressure on about four minutes later when Artturi Lehkonen tipped in a Josh Manson shot for a 2-0 advantage.
Nashville didn’t fold. Duchene gave the Predators life with a snipe past Kuemper from just inside the blueline. Yet the Avalanche kept rolling when Logan O’Connor beat Rittich after Nashville’s defense lost sight of the puck to go up 3-1.
The Predators kept things interesting to begin the second period. Nashville forward Ryan Johansson narrowly snuck the puck inside the near post on a long shot. Once again, the Avalanche responded, with J.T. Compher scoring on a rebound in front of the net. But a power-play goal from Roman Josi brought Nashville back within 4-3 entering the final period.
“It’s huge. In the regular season, you see what our record is at home and how our guys play. There can be a noticeable difference,” coach Jared Bednar said. “No one wants to take the night off in front of our fans. They don’t want to let them down. So, we come to play against St. Louis. They just give you that little extra X-factor going into the playoffs. We’ve had a great building on even some weekday games. It doesn’t really matter who is coming in here.
“Our crowd is energized and ready to go before we hit the ice. Our guys feel that.”
