Entering this week, the Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche were two of the NHL’s hottest teams and each had a point streak to back it up.
When the teams meet in Denver on Saturday for a late matinee game, there will be new streaks to begin.
The Predators (43-26-4, 90 points) fell 8-4 at Arizona on Thursday night and had their 18-game points streak ended. Nashville was 16-0-2 in that stretch and had not lost in regulation since Feb. 15 but couldn’t hold a two-goal lead against the Coyotes. Jason Zucker scored two goals for Nashville in the loss.
It was the longest points streak in franchise history and the longest in the NHL this season. It didn’t diminish what the Predators have accomplished, moving into the first wild card in the Western Conference with nine games remaining.
“There’s going to be a night like this,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “Every team in the NHL is a good team and every night is hard.”
The Predators were a hard team to play against during their streak. Only once did they need to go beyond regulation for a win, and that came Tuesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights. Nashville rallied from down 4-1 and won 5-4 in overtime.
Colorado (46-21-6, 98 points) was one of the Predators’ victims during the streak when it lost 5-1 in Nashville on March 2. The Predators have won the first two games of the regular-season series between the teams and can complete the sweep Saturday.
Nathan MacKinnon scored the Avalanche’s lone goal in the loss at Nashville four weeks ago. It came during his 19-game point streak that ended Thursday night in a 3-2 shootout loss to the New York Rangers.
MacKinnon also saw his home point streak come to an end in the loss to New York. He had at least one point in all 35 home games prior to Thursday, a streak that is the second-longest in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky’s 40-game streak in 1988-89.
Colorado thought he kept it going when he appeared to get an assist on the tying goal in the third period, but it was ruled an own goal and awarded to Devon Toews, who one-timed a pass from MacKinnon on net.
The Avalanche could ask for the league to review the play and change the scoring on it.
“There is a process,” coach Jared Bednar said. “You can look at it if you have video proof that there’s an assist, and he would get one.”
More important than getting MacKinnon another assist is Colorado stopping its mini-slide. The Avalanche had won nine straight before a home loss to Montreal on Tuesday night and are now three points behind the first-place Dallas Stars in the Central Division, with the Avalanche having played one fewer game.
Bednar was critical of his team after the loss to the Canadiens, but he was not upset at the team’s play against the Rangers.
Colorado forward Valeri Nichushkin missed Thursday’s game with a lower-body injury and Bednar said after Friday’s practice he is day-to-day.
–Field Level Media