October 20, 2024; San Jose, California, USA; Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar (8) warms up on the ice ahead of the game between the San Jose Sharks and the Colorado Avalanche at the SAP Center in San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Image The Colorado Avalanche, who have lost two in a row after five straight wins, are hoping to get their rhythm back in Music City on Saturday night.
Colorado is reeling from back-to-back 5-2 losses on home ice ahead of a road meeting with the Nashville Predators in the first of four regular season matchups between Central Division squads.
The Avalanche went 5-6-0 in October but ended the month with two fumbles. These were identical three-goal losses against the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Lightning’s loss was especially disappointing for Colorado coach Jared Bednar.
The Avs were down 3-0 less than six minutes into the game after Conor Geekie scored his second career goal against Kaapo Kahkonen, who was making his Colorado debut between the pipes.
Bednar said a few mistakes from some of the younger players who were sidelined due to numerous injuries hurt the club in the opening period.
“If you look at the opportunities we gave up early in the game,” Bednar said. “There are perception mistakes made by young players, such as not being able to read quickly and not getting to the right position.
“I think apart from that… play, we defended hard… and defended well against a really talented team that can be very dangerous.”
Cale Makar (goal, assist) and Nathan MacKinnon (two assists) extended their respective season-opening point streaks to 11 games, but heavy pressure in the third period failed to rally the Avalanche.
With four goals and 15 assists, Makar joins Bobby Orr as the only two defensemen to start a season with a point in at least 11 consecutive games. Orr’s streak to start the 1973-74 campaign ended at 15 games.
Colorado and Nashville are among five of eight Central teams with losing records entering the first month of the season.
Like their opponent on Saturday, the Predators have lost their second straight game.
Nashville dropped a 3-2 overtime decision at Tampa Bay before being rolled 5-1 at home on Thursday by Edmonton, which was without star center Connor McDavid.
Filip Forsberg scored an unassisted power-play goal in the first period that evened the Predators’ lone score in the first quarter on Thursday.
Nashville outshot the Oilers 30-20 and trailed by just two in total shots (29-27), but the club couldn’t find the traction to beat 32-year-old Journeyman goaltender Calvin Pickard, who stopped 26 shots to earn his third title. There have been four decisions made this season.
Despite Forsberg’s tally, the contest appeared to be slipping away from the home team as soon as former Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson put Edmonton within one with just 37 seconds to go.
“It’s the first shift,” coach Andrew Brunette said. “We weren’t ready to play. They hammered a square peg into this round hole and said we had to match it since we were a desperate team. But (we) came out and it wasn’t right. From the beginning, we chased the game again.”
Nashville finished October 3-6-1 with a four-game scoring streak (3-0-1).
Predators third-line left winger Jusso Pashinen played on Thursday for the first time since his season debut on October 15. The team announced Friday that center Mark Jankowski (upper body) will play every day.
–Field level media
