Lost night on ice
The Ducks lose to the Avalanche, and the Kings lose a third-period lead and then game to Blues.
The Ducks built a lead, then lost it, then regained their form after a few desperate moments.
So, what else is new?
No question, the Ducks were the better team for limited stretches, but stitching them together from start to finish continued to be a chore. The Colorado Avalanche played a role in disrupting the Ducks’ play, to be sure, and they found themselves in another tight game.
In the end, the Ducks couldn’t stop a hard-charging Valeri Nichushkin, who scored the game-winner 2:45 into overtime and they suffered a 3-2 loss Friday to the Avalanche in Denver. The Ducks earned a point, but they haven’t won a game since Feb. 11.
It wasn’t as if the Ducks found a way to lose while falling to 0-6-3 in their last nine. It was more like the Avalanche found a way to win.
Nichushkin jump-started Colorado’s rally from a two-goal deficit with a second-period goal.
“Another one where we’re right there, but at the end of the day, we get one point, but it’s two points that we want and we desperately need,” said Jakob Silfverberg, who had given the Ducks a 2-0 lead early in the second period. “Obviously, not satisfied with one.”
Ducks coach Dallas Eakins welcomed Josh Manson back to the lineup after a 20-game layoff because of an oblique injury suffered Jan. 18 against the Minnesota Wild. Eakins tweaked his lineup to accommodate Manson, playing seven defensemen and 11 forwards instead of the usual six and 12.
Manson’s return to the ice more or less coincided with the news Thursday that Hampus Lindholm would be sidelined for six weeks because of a fractured wrist suffered during a Feb. 27 game against the Golden Knights. Lindholm could be out until mid-April.
“I thought he played excellent,” Eakins said of Manson. “He played a physical, solid game.”
Said Manson, referring to Denver’s mile-high altitude, “It felt like I was breathing through a straw.”
The Ducks got no sympathy from the Avalanche, who were without defensemen Bowen Byram, and Cale Makar and forward Nathan MacKinnon because of injuries. MacKinnon was checked in the head Wednesday by San Jose’s Joachim Blichfeld, who was suspended two games by the NHL.
Judging by the opening minutes, the Avalanche hardly missed them. The Avalanche had a number of early scoring chances, but Ducks goaltender John Gibson turned them away long enough for his teammates to get their feet moving in the right direction.
The Ducks took a 1-0 lead with 10 seconds remaining in the first period, when Rickard Rakell slipped a pass from behind the net out front to Adam Henrique in the slot. Henrique fired the puck into the net. Rakell got the lone assist to extend his scoring streak to four games.
Silfverberg extended the Ducks’ lead to 2-0 only 2:22 into the second period, sending a laser past Colorado goalie Philipp Grubauer and into the upper reaches of the net.
The two-goal lead would not last the period, though. Nichushkin scored moments after a Colorado power play expired at 14:46 of the second period and then the Avalanche’s Brandon Saad scored from close range to tie it 2-2 at 17:23.