Avalanche fall to Predators on the road, 5-1

NASHVILLE >> The Colorado Avalanche continues to take one step forward and one step back away from Ball Arena.

Cody Glass scored three times and Juuse Saros made 25 saves Saturday to help the Nashville Predators knock off the Avalanche, 5-1, at Bridgestone Arena. The Avs are the NHL’S best team at home with a 23-6-0 record. They continue look like a middle-of-the-pack outfit on the road. This loss dropped the Avs to 1414-5 outside of Denver this season.

The game started well enough for the Avs, but the Predators slowly took control during the second half of it and there was no late surge for a potential comeback like Colorado has cultivated several times this year.

Glass gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 15:18 of the opening period. The Avalanche had a pretty solid opening 15 minutes defensively, but Glass found a soft spot in the slot and Colton Sissons got him the puck before Ross Colton was ready to defend him.

Nathan Mackinnon answered for the Avalanche less than two minutes later. He and Mikko Rantanen broke into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1, and Mackinnon stared down his teammate like he was going to pass before snapping a shot from the left wing over Saros’ far shoulder.

It was Mackinnon’s 37th goal of the season. It’s also nine straight games with at least one point. Mackinnon had at least one in 33 of 34 games before a three-game “slump” in the first road trip after the All-star break, but he’s rolling again.

Glass made it a 2-1 Nashville lead with a very similar play at a similar time in the second period. The Avs again looked pretty sound without the puck much of the period, but Glass got open for a onetimer on a pass from Tommy Novak at 14:26 of the period. Mackinnon actually had a breakaway in the final minute of the middle frame, but Saros snared his shot marked for the same spot as his first-period tally.

Former Avs center Ryan O’reilly made it a 3-1 game midway through the third period with a power-play goal. Roman Josi’s shot from the top of the zone hit the glass behind Alexandar Georgiev and caromed right to O’reilly at the side of the net for an easy layup.

Nashville came into this game as the hottest team in the NHL with seven consecutive wins. The surge has vaulted the Predators out of tangled mess of teams fighting for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference and given them not only

a comfortable cushion for the second wild-card spot, but also the chance to fight for the first one.

If the Avalanche can rally to win the Central Division, the Predators could be Colorado’s firstround opponent — just like two seasons ago.

This is the second loss in as many trips to Smashville for the Avs this season. Colorado led with a minute to play in November, but the Predators scored twice in the final 47 seconds to steal a victory.

This one was close for a while, but the home team didn’t need any 60th-minute heroics this time.