Avalanche outplay Golden Knights for 2 periods, then collapse

The Colorado Avalanche did everything they wanted to do for 40 minutes Tuesday night.

But it wasn’t enough to avoid a third consecutive loss that put them on the brink of elimination in the West Division final against the Golden Knights.

Colorado allowed two goals in the third period and one to Mark Stone 50 seconds into overtime as a 2-0 lead turned into a 3-2 loss in Game 5 at Ball Arena in Denver.

“I think just a couple bad plays, and that’s all it really takes against a good team like Vegas,” said forward Logan O’Connor, who was inserted in the lineup for the first time since March 31 and had three shots and seven hits. “We felt like we carried the play for the most part but had a couple slip-ups that obviously led to goals. But we just have to turn the page at this point.”

The Avalanche played their best overall game since a Game 1 blowout victory but must win Thursday at T-Mobile Arena to get the series back to Denver.

“We were forechecking hard, we were skating, coming up with pucks in the neutral zone and kind of turning it quick on them and didn’t let them get set up in our zone,” forward Gabriel Landeskog said. “Lots of positives to take out from tonight, but we don’t have much time to do anything but forget about this one and move on. We have to go into Vegas and win a hockey game. Simple as that.”

The home loss was a rare one for the Avalanche, who were 20-0-1 in their last 21 games at Ball Arena.

For most of the night, it looked as if they would extend that streak.

Brandon Saad, who was moved up to the top line in place of Landeskog, opened the scoring in the final seconds of the first period.

The goal appeared to ignite Colorado, which dominated the puck in the second period. The Avalanche had an 86.2 expected-goal share, a 12-3 edge in scoring chances and 75 percent Corsi For advantage in the second period.

Yet, Colorado led only 2-0 after two periods.

“We had a lot of chances to spread the game out more than what it was,” coach Jared Bednar said. “We didn’t capitalize.”

The Knights turned two Avalanche mistakes into goals in the third period and did it again in overtime.

“It was two plays that lasted about 10 seconds and another in overtime,” Bednar said of what cost his team. “I didn’t have a problem with the way we played our third period. I had a problem with the way we managed those two situations.”

Still, Bednar hopes his team stays the course and doesn’t change much over the next 48 hours. He thinks a similar effort would produce better results as long as the Avalanche avoid the costly turnovers that haunted them Tuesday.

“I told them that’s exactly how you have to play in order to win against Vegas, and now you have to do it again,” Bednar said. “I liked our attack mentality. We defended hard and did a lot of good things. We just have to be smarter with the puck in a couple areas, and that’s what ended up costing us tonight.

“But I love the way we played. We were the aggressors. We were on our toes. We were playing to win the hockey game, played to our identity. Even the third period, I had no problem with it except for the turnovers.”

Bringing that level of play might be easier said than done for a team that didn’t get to see a winning result for its Game 5 effort. The Avalanche remain confident despite knowing they must win two consecutive games or see a season in which they won the Presidents’ Trophy come to an end.

“We don’t have much of an option, do we?” said Landeskog, who was held without a point for the third time in four games and played to a minus-2 rating. “That’s the way we have to play. That’s how we’re effective. We just have to replicate that. It’s a tough building, but this is the playoffs, and now that we lost one at home, we have to go on the road and win one to bring it home for Game 7.”

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.