Ducks waste late lead, lose 11th in row

Vatrano scores twice and Helleson makes debut for Anaheim in an overtime defeat.

Nathan MacKinnon scored his second powerplay goal of the game on a one-timer with 44.3 seconds left in overtime, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied for a 5-4 victory over the Ducks on Sunday night at Honda Center.Mikko Rantanen had two goals and two assists and J.T. Compher also scored to help Colorado (49-24-6) move two points ahead of Dallas atop the Central Division.

“There’s still work to be done because we’ve seen the standings flip-flop all year long,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said.

Pavel Francouz stopped 19 shots in his first start in more than two months. He had not played since Feb. 7 because of a lower-body injury.

Frank Vatrano had two goals and Adam Henrique and Brett Leason also scored for the Ducks (23-4512), who picked up a second point in two nights to give up ground in the race for the NHL’s worst record and the best odds to win the draft lottery.

Lukas Dostal gave up five goals in 46 shots. The loss was the Ducks’ 11th in a row.

“Our guys are full of fire,” Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. “They’re working hard for each other, and they’re trying to support each other, and they’re competitive people.”

Colorado squandered a two-goal lead in the second period before rallying back from a two-goal deficit in the third. Rantanen cut the deficit to 4-3 on the power play midway through the period, and MacKinnon’s one-timer with the man advantage tied the score 4-all with 4:32 left.

The Ducks scored twice in a span of 2 minutes 7 seconds in the third period, going in front 3-2 on Vatrano’s wrist shot through traffic at 5:18 and making it 4-2 when Leason scored off the rush. But Colorado’s power play made up for a wasteful start.

Ducks defenseman Drew Helleson made his NHL debut. He was a second-round draft pick by the Avalanche in 2019 and sent to the Ducks last year as part of the trade for defenseman Josh Manson.