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Avs Give Up Lead Again: Suffer Second Straight Loss 5-2

The Colorado Avalanche need to learn one valuable lesson. No lead is safe in the NHL. The Avs came out of the gate on Friday night and scored two power-play goals in the first period. Seems like a pretty good start right? Then the offense went dead and the “sleeping giant” of Vancouver awoke and scored 5 unanswered goals to win the game 5-2. ”It’s a mindset right now more than anything, Colorado coach Joe Sacco said. “You can’t sit back in this league, and that’s two games in a row now where we’ve had leads in the third period and we get on our heels. You can’t play in this league if you are going to sit back and let the other team dictate how the game is going to be played. I thought we played pretty well in the first two periods and then a couple of missed assignments, a little casual in our defensive zone coverage, a bad penalty, and now the next thing you know the game is out of reach.” The Vancouver Canucks came out in the second period and scored a goal, and from there the Canucks continued to pound goalie Craig Anderson and were relentless in the third period. ”In the first period we didn’t kill those first two power plays against and we were down, but we came back strong and kept working hard and we dominated in the third and won the game,” Vancouver defensemen Christian Ehrhoff said. The Avs lacked a spark, or any intensity to match the surging Canucks. ”We just slept in the third and made key turnovers that led to their goals,” said Anderson. “We’ve got to figure out what’s going on, and figure out how to play with the lead. Once we figure out how to play with the lead, we’ll be all right.” The Avs opened the season beating the Canucks 3-0 in their second season game. Since then Vancouver has won all three of the meetings between the two clubs and has outscored the Avalanche 16-5 in four meetings this season. Right now the Avalanche have to figure out how to play with the lead. The Avs will be thankful to play in front of the Denver faithful as they travel home for a two-game homestand starting Monday night against the Philadelphia Flyers.   

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