The Colorado Avalanche ended their longest road trip of the season on Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators. The team from Music City is difficult to beat no matter how bad they are in the standings. Special teams became the difference for both teams on Tuesday, forcing overtime and then a shootout in the late-night division battle. In the end, the Avalanche walked away with at least one point in their 4–3 shootout loss.

View from the Mountaintop

Nathan MacKinnon became the first player in the NHL this year to reach the 50-point milestone for the season. He achieved the milestone when he assisted on Artturi Lehkonen’s 11th goal of the year. It was MacKinnon’s 26th assist in addition to his 24 goals. It was also MacKinnon’s 900th career regular season game on Tuesday. The Canadian ranks second in all-time points for the franchise behind Joe Sakic with 1,065 points (391g/675a). He has a Stanley Cup, Calder Memorial Trophy, Hart Memorial Trophy, and Ted Lindsay Award all to his credit.

The Avs had trouble clearing the puck late in the game, and it cost them. With a little over seven minutes left in the third period, the Predators held the points. The Avs tried to clear the puck from their own zone, but Nashville knocked down the puck and took possession. Brady Skjei sent a floater towards the net that miraculously found its way through.

Cale Makar converted on the power play for the Avalanche with only eight seconds left in regulation. Unfortunately, this was the only power play that the Avalanche converted all night long out of four chances. On the bright side, it was Makar’s first power play goal since April 3 last season. Colorado has now had power-play goals in consecutive games. Overtime and then a shootout followed, and the concussion spotter removed Scott Wedgewood from the game. This was after Filip Forsberg ran into Wedgewood and took another shot from Steven Stamkos.

Up Next

The Avalanche will head home to take on the Florida Panthers on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. MT. ESPN will broadcast the game.