The Colorado Avalanche were left searching for answers after a stunning 8-6 loss to the bottom-dwelling Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night.
Sitting atop the standings, Colorado entered the matchup as heavy favorites, but a defensive collapse and inconsistent play made for a frustrating night that head coach Jared Bednar struggled to explain.
Colorado Avalanche Reeling After Shock Loss to Vancouver
The Vancouver Canucks struck early as Max Sasson scored just 29 seconds in, but Nathan MacKinnon answered quickly with his 50th of the campaign, becoming the first player to reach that mark this season. Vancouver then surged ahead with goals from Teddy Blueger and Jake DeBrusk. Gabriel Landeskog cut the deficit to 3-2 late in the first.
The Canucks pulled away in the second. Blueger added another. Brock Boeser got in twice to make it 6-2. Colorado Avalanche rallied in the third, getting goals from Parker Kelly, Brent Burns, and Sam Malinski (two goals) to tie it 6-6.
However, Marcus Pettersson restored Vancouver’s lead minutes later, and Boeser sealed the wild 8-6 win with an empty-net hat-trick goal.
Bednar made it clear the Avalanche’s third-period push wasn’t enough to mask the overall performance. “I liked the way we played in the third. But the reality of it is, if you want to win in this league, you have to play that way for 60 minutes. And we weren’t even close,” Bednar said.
He pointed out the first period wasn’t good, the second was worse, and added that at this stage of the season, effort for only 20 minutes simply isn’t acceptable.
When asked whether there were any positives to take from the game, the answer was blunt: “None.” Bednar summed up the night by saying, “There’s no excuse. I think if we’re making excuses for that performance, it’s going to be a short run.”
The only real bright spot was Nathan MacKinnon, who became the first player this season to hit the 50-goal mark. It also gave him another 50-goal campaign, adding to his growing résumé. With the achievement, he became just the third player in Colorado Avalanche/Nordiques history to record multiple 50-goal seasons, and only the second since the franchise moved to Denver, joining Joe Sakic.
MacKinnon also became the first player in franchise history to be the season’s first to 50 goals since Milan Hejduk in 2002-03. Meanwhile, Cole Caufield sits as the next closest player this season with 47 goals.
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The Avalanche will now try to regroup quickly as they prepare to face the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
