Third-period meltdown for Avs

Three-goal spree puts away game for Predators

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 23, 2008 at 12:45 a.m.

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Photo by Michael Martin / Nhli Via Getty Images

The Avalanche's Jose Theodore makes a save on Nashville's Martin Gelinas as Jeff Finger defends during Colorado's 4-0 loss.

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Five minutes is all it took for the Avalanche to turn a very winnable game into a runaway - for Nashville.

The Predators scored on three consecutive shots in a 4:54 span of the third period for a 4-0 win Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center.

"We made a couple of mistakes and it ended up in the back of our net," forward Andrew Brunette said. "It's almost like we panicked a little bit."

That hasn't been an Avalanche trait recently. The team had been playing stingy defense, killing penalties effectively and getting strong goaltending from Jose Theodore, who held opponents to 13 goals in the previous eight games.

"We had a terrible start to the third (period)," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We've been pretty good lately; this game, I can't say that."

Quenneville didn't blame Theodore, who had 25 saves on a night when he needed to be perfect, while Predators backup goalie Dan Ellis was stopping 38 shots for his fourth shutout of the season.

"Jose was fine," Quenneville said. "It wasn't Jose's fault. We weren't as good as we've been. He gave us a chance right through two periods."

The Avalanche has been shut out three times this season, twice by Nashville. Chris Mason stopped 35 shots in a 4-0 win against the Avalanche on Oct. 4 in the second game of the season.

Despite the loss, the first in regulation in six games, the Avalanche is two points behind Northwest Division-leading Calgary and one point behind second- place Minnesota, which visits the Pepsi Center on Thursday in the final game before the NHL All-Star break.

It was a big win for the Predators, who are on an 8-2-2 roll and pulled one point behind Vancouver for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

"Our 'D' has done an unbelievable job the entire season," Ellis said. "Forcing guys to bad angles, allowing our goalies to see the puck from the blue line . . . they box guys out, take away second- shot opportunities. They have just done an exceptional job."

Ellis did a pretty nice job, too, making 25 saves through two periods to make the Predators' 1-0 lead hold up.

"He played well," Brunette said. "We had some opportunities to tie the game up. We didn't get anything behind him. If we would have gotten one or two . . . but I definitely think we can play better than we did."

That was surely the case at the start of the third period.

Predators forward Martin Erat, who had one goal in his previous six games, scored twice in the period, the first one at the 59-second mark on a bang-bang play off a pass from Jason Arnott.

"I think maybe we lost a little enthusiasm when that second goal went in," Quenneville said. "I think that was the pivotal goal of the game."

Alexander Radulov tucked the puck inside the right post at 2:19 after accepting a nifty pass from J.P. Dumont, and Erat cashed in Jerred Smithson's pass on a power play at 5:53.

That was the ballgame.

"The team that we've got, we have to show up for 60 minutes," Avalanche forward Ian Laperriere said. "We just can't take any nights off."

The only goal before the fateful third period was produced by Predators defenseman Shea Weber at 4:51 of the opening period on a power play.

Weber, playing in his fifth game after returning from a leg injury, fired a shot from the left point that beat Theodore to the far corner with 15 seconds remaining on a holding penalty to defenseman Brett Clark.

The Avalanche had killed nine consecutive penalties and 25-of-27 in the previous eight games before Weber scored.

The Avalanche power play, meanwhile, continued to sputter along, failing to score on four opportunities to run its slump on home ice to 0-for-22 in a seven- game stretch and 3-for-41 overall in 13 games.

"Our power play had some chances," Quenneville said. "We had some sniffs there. (Milan)

Hejduk had a couple shots in the slot that were dangerous. But we'll keep trying to get it going. Our power play hasn't been as good as we'd like, for sure. We've been saying that pretty regularly this year. That's an area we have to capture going forward."

Predators 4, Avalanche 0

Nashville1 0 3 - 4

Colorado0 0 0 - 0

First period - 1, Nas, Weber 3 (Suter, Fiddler), 4:51 (pp). Penalties - Clark, Col, (holding), 3:06; Suter, Nas (holding stick), 12:40.

Second period - None. Penalties - McLeod, Col, (boarding), 2:20; Arnott, Nas (hooking), 8:26; Guite, Col, (high-sticking), 16:59; Zidlicky, Nas (hooking), 17:57.

Third period - 2, Nas, Erat 13 (Arnott, Suter), :59. 3, Nas, Radulov 16 (Dumont, Weber), 2:19. 4, Nas, Erat 14 (Smithson, Koistinen), 5:53 (pp). Penalties - Hannan, Col, (hooking), 4:04; Ortmeyer, Nas (tripping), 8:32; McLeod, Col, (tripping), 11:44.

Shots - Nas 10-11-8 - 29. Col 15-10-13 - 38. Power plays - Nas 2 of 5; Col 0 of 4. Goalies - Nas, Ellis 11-5-1 (38 shots-38 saves). Col, Theodore 12-11-2 (29-25). A - 15,235 (18,007). T - 2:14. Referees - Dennis LaRue, Brad Watson. Linesmen - Dan Schachte, Lyle Seitz.

sadowskir@RockyMountainNews.com

NUMBERS GAME

13 -game points- scoring streak for Predators forward J.P. Dumont with eight goals and 10 assists.

NO ALL-STARS

NHL officials didn't replace center Paul Stastny with another Avalanche player for Sunday's NHL All-Star Game, which means the team won't be represented for the first time since the franchise has been in Denver.

Stastny was named as a reserve two weeks ago, but he underwent an appendectomy Thursday and is on injured reserve.

The league Tuesday named forwards Corey Perry of Anaheim and Mike Ribeiro of Dallas as replacements for Stastny and Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg, along with Anaheim defenseman Scott Niedermayer as a replacement for Dallas' Sergei Zubov.

Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville thought a number of his players were deserving of a trip to Atlanta.

"We've gotten some good contributions," he said. "A lot of guys sometimes fly under the radar. The guy that is probably the most noticeable is (Marek) Svatos with 20 goals. That's pretty impressive."

RYCROFT TRADED

The Avalanche made a minor trade, dealing right wing Mark Rycroft to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for minor league defenseman Darcy Campbell and center Philippe Dupuis. Campbell, 23, and Dupuis, 22, were assigned to the Lake Erie Monsters in the American Hockey League.

Rycroft, 29, had one goal, six assists and 17 penalty minutes in 30 games with Lake Erie. The Blue Jackets assigned him to Syracuse.

HE SAID IT

"We were soft from the get-go. They took it to us. We should have taken it to them. They played (Monday)."

Ian Laperriere, Avalanche forward

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