Ducks turnovers unravel home finale, set up Avalanche comeback

ANAHEIM, Calif. – What looked like an easy send off to the home fans after a season of improvement quickly turned into a nightmare home finale for the Anaheim Ducks.

The Colorado Avalanche capitalized on sloppy Ducks turnovers to score four goals over the final 10 minutes to disintegrate a 2-0 Ducks lead into a 4-2 Colorado victory on Sunday at Honda Center.

Anaheim (35-37-8, 78 points) fell back two games below .500 with two games remaining. The Ducks have not been above .500 since March 4 and cannot finish the season over the mark.

“That's not a reflection of what a team needs to do to be a winning team,” Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. “We started out poorly, and we ended poorly. We turned pucks over repeatedly. To me, it's extremely disappointing.”

Mason McTavish scored his team-leading 22nd goal of the season, and Sam Colangelo scored one second after a power play expired in the second period. Lukáš Dostál made 20 saves.

“We gave them too many too many odd-man rushes, especially being up,” McTavish said, “and we gotta do a better job of closing the game off there.”

Wyatt Aadmodt scored his first career goal, and Jack Drury tied the game up with a power play goal. Charlie Coyle netted the go-ahead marker on the rush with 2:09 to play, and Erik Johnson hit the empty net. Scott Wedgewood made 18 saves.

Already locked into the playoffs and into its first round match-up, Colorado listed eight players as scratches, including Hart Trophy MVP candidate Nathan MacKinnon and odds-on repeat  Norris Trophy defenseman Cale Makar.

“The culture they have there is kind of next man up,” McTavish said. “Clearly, they still have a lot of skill, and we knew right from the start that it was gonna be a tough game.”

After falling out of playoff contention, Anaheim has had a stated goal of finishing at or above .500 on the season, but it will be a tough climb to hit that barrier, as the Ducks finish the season with a road back-to-back in Minnesota and Winnipeg on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Minnesota is on the doorstep of clinching a wild card playoff berth, and Winnipeg is the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.

“We better play the right way,” Cronin said. “It's as simple as that.”

It was a low-event first period, but Anaheim ended up on the right side of the two events on the scoresheet.

Playing without most of their power players, Colorado’s power play generated just two shots on the lone man-advantage of the period, and one minute later, the Ducks struck first.

Mason McTavish coasted into the zone and from the top of the left circle sniped the puck far glove on Wedgewood for the lead, 1-0, with 1:08 remaining in the period.

McTavish regained the team goal-scoring lead with his 22nd marker of the season.

Anaheim got its first power play of the game in the second period, and while the Ducks again didn’t capitalize on the man-advantage, the unit doubled the lead.

A tic-tac-toe passing sequence from Frank Vatrano on the wall, to Alex Killorn below the goal line, to Sam Colangelo in the slot for a one-timer put Anaheim up, 2-0, just one second after the power play expired.

After Colorado earned over 81% of the five-on-five expected goals in the first period, Anaheim was much better in the second period, earning 55% of the five-on-five expected goals in the middle frame.

The Avalanche stormed back in the final 10 minutes of the third period.

“Everything went off a turnovers,” Cronin said, “and it wasn't like they stripped us. We had full possession of pucks. Their first goal, we had the puck at the blue line and we decided not to put it in deep, we passed it (them and) that triggered their breakout. We got guys caught down low.”

Martin Necas drove up the right boards and dropped the puck back to Wyatt Aamodt in the circle, and Aamodt’s shot deflected off a tied-up Pavel Mintyukov in front for Colorado’s first goal, 2-1. Aamodt earned his first NHL goal and point with the tally.

Colorado went on the power play two minutes later, and this time, the Avs brought the game level, as Jack Drury deflected a rip from the point by Sam Malinski, 2-2, with 5:26 left to play.

“Right before the power play goal, we had full possession inside of their blue line and we turned it over,” Cronin said. “We threw a–I don't know what it was–a little wiffle ball to the middle of the ice. It came back down, and we shot it off the glass out of the rink.”

Three minutes later, the Avalanche grabbed the lead.

Colorado pushed up quickly, and the Ducks were unable to fill-in the backcheck lanes fast enough, as Logan O’Connor pulled up to Jimmy Vesey who fired across to Charlie Coyle to nail the eventual game-winning goal.

“On the last goal, we had the puck, and we threw it down at the net, it ricocheted around, and we lost the third guy,” Cronin said. “I don't care what game it is during the season. You either play the right way, or you play the wrong way.”

Erik Johnson hit the empty net with 49 seconds left to ice the Colorado comeback victory.

Ian Moore Makes NHL Debut

Ducks defenseman Ian Moore played in his first career NHL game on Sunday. Moore, a four-year college player at Harvard, signed a two-year entry-level deal on Saturday after playing nine games in AHL San Diego on an amateur tryout contract. 

“I can't really put it into words this quick,” Moore said on his debut. “It hasn’t sunk in. I was just just trying to play really simple out there and just trying to stick to the basics during the game. It hasn't sunk in, probably won't for a little while.”

Moore played 15:31 in his debut and registered three shots on goal. Moore, a 2020 third-round pick by Anaheim, took in the traditional rookie solo lap coming out for warm-ups and soaked in the moment in front of numerous friends and family.

“For warmups, It's like you forget how to skate a little bit,” Moore said. “You know, it was dark out there, and I just didn't want a trip.”

Game Notes:

• The Ducks’ league-worst power play (11.9%) is scoreless on its last 13 power plays in its last six games. Anaheim has just two power play goals on its last 36 attempts and three goals on its last 46 attempts.

• Anaheim defensemen Olen Zellweger and Oliver Kylington and forward Brett Leason were the healthy scratches. Zellweger sat for the first time in 19 games (March 5) and for the 19th time this season.

• Goaltender John Gibson missed his fifth straight game with a lower-body injury and is unlikely to return this season. 

• Forwards Ross Johntson (upper-body injury) and Robby Fabbri (hand injury) participated in the morning skate on Sunday, but both are also unlikely to return this season.