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The Avalanche avoided being shutout for the first time this season, but Anaheim Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal prevented them from claiming two points.
Anaheim defeated Colorado, 2-1, in a shootout Wednesday night at Ball Arena. The Avs are now 3-1-2 on this season-long, seven-game homestand that wraps up Friday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.
“End of the day, their goalie had a big night and we had a tough time some of our execution early, so it wasn’t sustained for 60 minutes,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Then (we) got a lot of good looks and just couldn’t put them in the back of the net.”
Dostal finished with 40 saves, including 19 in the third period and overtime. Scott Wedgewood made 16, including a pair of breakaway stops in extra time.
It took 34 shots and more than 56 minutes for the Avalanche to solve Dostal. Artturi Lehkonen buried a one-timer on a pass from Brock Nelson with 3:39 remaining in the third period to make this a 1-1 hockey game.
“I thought we were pretty all over it,” Nelson said. “Didn’t really give them a whole lot. They maybe had one or two little flurries, but I thought we had a fair share of good looks. Just couldn’t get one earlier to kind of crack it and get momentum.”
While the Avs had a 20-10 lead in shots on goal through two periods, the scoring chances were pretty even. Colorado did pour on the pressure in the third, racking up an 18-3 advantage in scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick.
Anaheim nearly stole a late winner in regulation, but after Wedgewood stopped the initial shot, both he and Victor Olofsson dove into the blue paint to keep the puck from crossing the goal line.
The Avalanche tried out a new-look top line in this contest. Olofsson joined Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas on the first unit. Olofsson also joined the top power-play unit.
Colorado’s typical top line, MacKinnon between Necas and Lehkonen, has logged the second-most minutes together at 5-on-5 of any forward trio in the NHL this season (460.8 minutes), trailing only Winnipeg’s top unit of Mark Scheifele between Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi (491.9 minutes), per MoneyPuck.
“I liked (Olofsson) a lot,” Bednar said. “Victor has been playing a real good, solid 200-foot game. He started to chip in a little bit here offensively and I wanted to make a switch.
“Sometimes it’s just good to change the mix of that top six. I want them all to be able to play with each other at different times.”
Anaheim scored the lone goal of the opening 40 minutes on a counterattack early in the second period. Sam Malinski tried to poke the puck ahead along the left wall in the offensive zone, but Ducks captain Radko Gudas intercepted it and sent the visitors in the other direction.
Cutter Gauthier found Jeffrey Viel wide open as the trailer and he beat Wedgewood with a shot from the edge of the left circle. One of Colorado’s new-look top line forwards needed to find Viel, but Necas skated towards Gauthier and Olofsson wasn’t able to get back in time.
The Ducks just traded for the 28-year-old Viel on Friday, picking him up from the Boston Bruins for a fourth-round pick. Viel, known more as an energy player who will drop the gloves, had just three goals in 64 NHL games before joining Anaheim, but this was his second goal in three games for the Ducks.
Anaheim was without two of its best young players in this contest. Leading scorer Leo Carlsson hasn’t played since Jan. 10 because of a thigh injury that could keep the 21-year-old Swedish star out of the 2026 Winter Olympics. Mason McTavish was a late scratch just before puck drop because of an upper-body injury.
“I pretty much stood around,” Wedgewood said. “They get a nice play there in the second early to go up and you’re just waiting for one. (Dostal) played a hell of a game over there to keep them up as long as possible. … We just kept going, so never really a doubt to get one, just wanted to get a couple and come away with two (points).
FOOTNOTES: The Avs recalled Jack Ahcan and Taylor Makar for this game. Colorado has been rotating forwards in the final lineup spot with Gabe Landeskog and Joel Kiviranta injured. Kiviranta could return Friday against the Flyers. Ahcan, who played eight games earlier this year, is back with the parent club because Ilya Solovyov was traded Tuesday to the Pittsburgh Penguins for minor-league forward Valtteri Puustinen and a seventh-round pick.
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Corey Masisak
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