Getting the point
Colorado rallies to force overtime, but Tampa Bay prevails behind Kucherov
The red-hot Tampa Bay Lightning scored 3:03 into overtime to extend its winning streak to 11 games, but the Avalanche skated off with a well-earned point Monday night at the Pepsi Center.
The visitors got the OT goal from Nikita Kucherov on a breakaway, winning 4-3.
The Avs climbed back from a 3-1 deficit behind goals from Nathan MacKinnon and Valeri Nichushkin. Colorado, which was in position to tie St. Louis and Dallas with a Central Division/ Western Conference-high 74 points, fell to 3-7 in overtime. The Avs (73 points) snapped a two-game points streak.
Colorado led 1-0 after the first period before allowing two goals within 16 seconds and another 10 minutes later to trail 3-1 late in the second. MacKinnon
scored his team-high 33rd goal of the season with 1:34 remaining in the middle frame to get the Avs back within one.
The Avs then tied it 12:43 into the third period, when Cale Makar’s long wrist shot caromed in off the chest of Nichushkin.
The game was costly for the Avs, who lost first-line winger Mikko Rantanen to a shoulder injury early in the second period when he was tripped into the end boards by Tampa Bay defenseman Erik Cernak. Bending over, Rantanen skated directly to the bench
and walked into the dressing room tunnel. He did not return.
Cernak was penalized for tripping but, adding insult to injury, the Avs failed to convert on the power play. Rantanen, who assisted on Colorado’s first goal for his 41st point in 42 games, missed 16 games earlier this season with an ankle injury.
Tampa Bay, which had former Colorado College goalie Curtis McElhinney, collected points in its previous 12 games, going 110-1. The Lightning, which also had a 10-game winning streak from Dec. 23 to Jan. 11, is now 232-1 in its last 26 games.
Goalie Pavel Francouz, stepping in for the injured Philipp Grubauer, had 23 saves for Colorado. Grubauer had started seven of the last eight games but is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury after colliding with a teammate Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings.
Francouz got the win in Colorado’s 6-2 victory at Tampa Bay on Oct. 19.
The Avs scored on their first power play to open the scoring 4:49 into the game. From behind the net, Rantanen made a short pass to Andre Burakovsky from the doorstep and he buried a snap shot inside the far post. Both teams finished with 10 shots in the opening 20 minutes.
But the Lightning tied it 4:54 into the second and took the lead at 5:10. The goals came from winger Alex Killorn and defenseman Brendan Gaunce. Killorn had an open net to shoot at on a back-door feed from Ondrej Palat and Gaunce’s slap shot from the blue line found its way in through traffic.
Footnotes. The Avs played their fourth consecutive game without second-line center Nazem Kadri, who was expected to miss 4-6 weeks beginning Feb. 10 with a leg injury. … The Avs complete their five-game homestand Wednesday against the New York Islanders.