Five takeaways from Colorado’s OT loss to Utah Mammoth

You can’t win them all, but the Colorado Avalanche are doing a good job of picking up points, even if they don’t walk away with two.

Colorado was sloppy for most of the evening, particularly in the second period, but managed to take the game to overtime, where Dylan Guenther won the game for the Mammoth by a score of 4-3.

Here are five takeaways from Colorado’s second loss of the year:

  1. ESPN really wants to make the skycam happen, but it’s not a good look. They cut to that camera several times during the game, including a few odd-man rushes and, when they do that, it’s hard for any regular viewer to actually keep track of the puck because of how small everything gets on the screen. A 15-minute interview with the Mammoth owner probably led a few Avalanche fans to turn off the television. They might be the Worldwide Leader in Sports, but TNT puts on a significantly better broadcast for the NHL.
  2. Zakhar Bardakov had a rough start to his NHL career, getting out of position on his first shift, which led to a goal against. His start to his second game was much better, as a strong forecheck by him created Cale Makar’s first-period goal. Unfortunately, it’s clear he doesn’t have a lot of rope with the coaching staff at the moment, as he found himself benched for the latter half of the second period after being on the ice for Utah’s second goal. The Ilya Solovyov-Sam Malinski defensive pair probably was more at fault for that second goal, however.
  3. Gabriel Landeskog appeared to have scored his first regular-season goal early in the second period off a great shot, but a review by the Mammoth got the goal called back on an offside call. The explanation for calling the goal back didn’t make a ton of sense, though. It appeared that Dylan Guenther of the Mammoth brought the puck back into his own zone, which would negate any offside call, but ESPN was told by the league office that Valeri Nichushkin’s actions forced him to do that. There’s a first time for everything, and that explanation is a first for the NHL.
  4. It was an otherwise forgettable game for Martin Necas, filled with lots of turnovers, but supremely talented players don’t need a whole lot of room to make the opposition pay. Necas’ game-tying goal late in regulation was a shot very few in the NHL are capable of making.
  5. Jared Bednar put Brock Nelson on the ice to start overtime to win the opening faceoff. He did his job, but Nathan MacKinnon gave it back to Utah without a whole lot of pressure on him. A few seconds later, the puck was in the back of the net behind Scott Wedgewood, giving Utah the win. Avalanche remain unbeaten in regulation thus far but they made plenty of unforced errors with the puck on Tuesday night.

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