Good & Bad: Nelson Scores 300th Goal in Avalanche’s 5-4 Loss

On the bright side, only one game remains before the end of the regular season.

Taking on the Los Angeles Kings on the road without seven of their regulars — eight if you include Gabriel Landeskog — the Avalanche were defeated 5-4, falling to 48-29-4 on the season. No matter what the result is on Sunday in Anaheim, the Avs will not reach 50 wins this season for the first time since 2021.

Colorado played without Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Ryan Lindgren, Josh Manson, Ross Colton, and Jonathan Drouin.

They got two goals from Brock Nelson and one from both Valeri Nichushkin and Sam Malinski. In goal, Mackenzie Blackwood made 28 saves as Colorado was outshot 33-26.

Nelson’s first tally was the 300th of his career, becoming the 28th American-born player to reach the mark. He also scored the last goal of the game to get to 26 on the season. Nelson has six goals and seven assists in 18 games with Colorado since the trade deadline.

The Kings countered with tallies from Kevin Fiala (two), Quinton Byfield, Alex Laferriere, and Anze Kopitar. Darcy Kuemper defeated his former team, making 22 saves and nearly scoring on an empty net late in regulation.

Without so many of their stars, the Avs called up Jere Innala, Wyatt Aamodt, and Jack Ahcan from the AHL. All three of them were inserted into the lineup. It was Aamodt’s first career NHL game at 27 years old.

Good: Avs Were Overmatched, But Didn’t Quit

I don’t think the recent results have upset head coach Jared Bednar as much as how the games have played out. On Thursday, Nathan MacKinnon was among several regulars who did not dress in the regular-season home finale and the Avs lost 4-1 to the Vancouver Canucks. Still, Bednar was not happy.

He was frustrated that his team wasn’t making a habit of doing the things that make them successful. It was a shorthanded lineup, but it was also a game where the guys who did dress seemed to let up quite a bit.

Bednar wanted that to be corrected, and it was in L.A. The Kings, who are still fighting for home-ice advantage and positioning in the Pacific Division, came out to an early 2-0 lead on their first two shots. But Colorado didn’t let that sink its chances.

The Avs battled back and tied it at 2-2, before again falling behind 4-2. Malinski’s tally made it 4-3, and the rest of regulation was spent trying to mount a second two-goal comeback.

It was unsuccessful, but not because of a lack of effort.

Bad: Blackwood’s Shaky Last Start

The chances of Blackwood playing again on Sunday are very slim. Scott Wedgewood is likely to start to close out the regular season.

If that’s the case, it means Blackwood enters the playoffs with the following goals against in his last four starts: three, four, three, and five.

Does this matter? Probably not. I can’t stress enough that I am of the belief that these recent losses don’t matter. But, for a goalie who has never made a playoff start, I would hope it’s not affecting his confidence heading into what’s likely going to be the most highly-skilled first-round series of the playoffs.

The goalie that defeated the Avs this afternoon was also their starting goalie in 2022 when they won the Stanley Cup. In Kuemper’s last seven starts heading into the postseason that year, he surrendered three, four, three, five, four, three, and four goals.

Then the switch flipped for the entire team, Kuemper included, when the postseason began. That late-season stretch didn’t affect his confidence or belief when the playoffs began.

You have to hope it’s the same for Blackwood.