Avs drop first home game of season with loss to Ducks

Playing consecutive-night NHL matches is an ambitious chore.

Just ask the red-hot Avalanche, that wasn’t around the battle Saturday night at the Pepsi Center.

The Avs, following a six-game road stretch, was seeking to improve to 5-0 at home and win their 11th straight game at the Pepsi Center, dating to last season. They dropped a 5-2 decision to Anaheim Ducks, who had a day off in Denver on Friday after losing their third straight game Thursday at Dallas.

Colorado, that allowed an empty-net target with 2:13 remaining, fell to 8-2-1 but nevertheless is connected with Edmonton using a Western Conference-most 17 points. The Avs were coming off a stretch on the road.

“Unfortunate this can be a homecoming after a really good road trip. Unfortunate we showed up for this,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog stated.

Colorado’s 2 losses have come at Tampa Bay and Vegas. The Avs pounded the Golden Knights 6-1 on Friday in the desert.

“We just expected more from ourselves. I don’t understand if, following such a comprehensive game against Vegas in their own building, if we hoped if we had to appear tonight, it was likely to happen —,” Landeskog stated. “Clearly, this ’ that is wasn t the case. We worked hard at times but sometimes not working smart. ”

The Ducks never trailed and got a oily third-period target from rookie forward Max Comtois after Colorado got within 3-2 early in the last frame.

The Avs’ Nathan MacKinnon extended his team-record, season-opening points streak to 11 games when he scored his sixth goal of the season to find the hosts within 3-2.

But Comtois, 20, scored his fourth career aim at 6:42 for Anaheim’s lead of the match. He swatted at a loose puck in the doorstep while Avs goalie Pavel Francouz got tangled and has been trapped from the ice.

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The Ducks (7-5) led 2-0 after the first period and 3-1 after the moment. The goals came in Adam Henrique, Carter Rowney and Ryan Getzlaf, the last of these just 3:06 after Colorado got within 2-1 on Joonas Donskoi’s bank-shot goal from behind the goal line.

Henrique beat Francouz using a wrist shot between the bands just 50 minutes into the match. Rowney outraced MacKinnon to get a crease-front tap-in. And Getzlaf, on the power playscored using a wrister from the right circle.

“You don’t need to begin like this — get scored in the first minute,” Francouz (2-1) said after suffering his first loss as a NHL starter. “But I believe we were trying to make some crime. We had been pushing. We couldn’t dent. Second was scored by them and afterwards they had been defending . They blocked a great deal of shots and have been patient for their opportunities. ”

Landeskog was serving a tripping penalty when Getzlaf felt. Landeskog took two of Colorado’s three penalties during 2 periods.

“We didn’t begin the game and it ended up costing us the match. We weren’t ready to perform at a high level. A little too casual to initiate the match, together with the puck. If you take a close look at the chances they had in the first period off the rush, then virtually all ” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Our aim now in what we talked about has been hoping to replicate (Friday’s) performance since it was an excellent performance from begin to finish. ”

The Avs will regroup Sunday with an 11 a.m. clinic and prepare for Wednesday’s match against the visiting Florida Panthers. Colorado finishes its three-game homestand Friday against Dallas.

Footnote. The Avs played their second match with no all-star winger Mikko Rantanen, who is a week to week with a leg injury.