Gabriel Landeskog suffered an upper-body injury in the second period, and the Colorado Avalanche went on to lose 2–1 to the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on Sunday.
Artturi Lehkonen scored the lone goal for Colorado, with Josh Manson and Brock Nelson each recording an assist.
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In net, Scott Wedgewood made 23 saves on 25 shots, while the Avalanche penalty kill was perfect, going 3-for-3 against the Panthers.
However, the struggles on the power play continued and the Avs went 0/4 on the man advantage. The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak for Colorado and marked just their third regulation loss of the season.
Reigning Conn Smythe recipient Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad scored for the Panthers. Daniil Tarasov made 27 saves in relief of regular starter Sergii Bobrovsky.
Jack Drury took a diving swipe at a loose rebound nearly two minutes into the game, but Tarasov came up with the save. Less than a minute later, Brent Burns fired a shot from the point in an effort to set up Parker Kelly for a deflection in front, but Tarasov’s reflexes were sharp once again.
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Just over four minutes into the period, a scary moment unfolded when Mackie Samoskevich blasted Wedgewood in the mask with a hard wrist shot, sending the goaltender down to the ice. After being evaluated by the trainer, it was determined that Samoskevich’s shot—clocked at approximately 83.9 mph—had cracked Wedgewood’s mask. As a result, Wedgewood was forced to switch to his Nordiques mask, the same one he wore in the previous game against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Bennett opened the scoring at 6:33 when Sam Malinski turned the puck over in the defensive zone. Bennett pounced, deked, fired a shot on Wedgewood, and buried his own rebound to give Florida a 1–0 lead.
With 8:25 remaining in the period, Jeff Petry attempted to beat Wedgewood top shelf, but his wrist shot glanced off the goaltender’s glove and rang off the crossbar.
On the very next sequence, Colorado answered. Lehkonen redirected Josh Manson’s one-timer past Tarasov to tie the game 1–1, with Brock Nelson setting up Manson for the initial shot.
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Florida defenseman Uvis Balinskis was whistled for interference on Lehkonen, giving the Avalanche a power play. Colorado failed to convert, and moments later Landeskog was sent to the box for roughing after accidentally catching former Avalanche forward Evan Rodrigues in the face with the butt end of his stick. Landeskog was visibly upset with the call at first, but after seeing the replay from the penalty box, he could only laugh at himself.
Former Av A.J. Greer then drew an interference penalty with under a minute remaining, sending Manson to the box. Manson was livid on the bench, but the Avalanche penalty kill was forced back to work to close out the period.
Early in the second period, Landeskog suffered a frightening fall after catching his left skate caught a weird edge, and sent him crashing ribs-first into the Panthers’ net. The captain remained down as the trainer rushed onto the ice, and Landeskog ultimately needed assistance from both the medical staff and Nathan MacKinnon to get to his feet. The arena fell nearly silent before rising in applause as he was helped off the ice and into the dressing room.
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Samoskevich was later called for holding Samuel Girard, but Colorado’s power play again came up empty despite generating several quality looks. Florida then handed the Avalanche additional opportunities when Petry high-sticked Zakhar Bardakov, followed by a lapse in discipline from Rodrigues, who cross-checked Parker Kelly in a brief case of #17-on-#17 harassment.
That sequence gave Colorado its fourth power play of the game, but special teams continued to frustrate. Panthers forward Brad Marchand stripped the puck and broke in alone, forcing Wedgewood to make a key save—though his stick shattered in half during the play.
Florida regained the lead late in the period when Ekblad unloaded a 90-mph slap shot from the right circle through traffic, beating a screened Wedgewood. The Panthers carried a 2–1 lead into the third period.
Just over two minutes into the third, it was announced that Landeskog had suffered an upper-body injury and would not return.
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Nearly seven minutes into the period, Girard was sent off for slashing after catching Anton Lundell with his stick. The Avalanche penalty kill went back to work for the third time, and Wedgewood came up with a crucial stop on Petry’s one-timer with 30 seconds remaining in the kill, setting up an important defensive-zone faceoff.
With roughly 2:15 remaining, Wedgewood headed to the bench for the extra attacker. Moments later, MacKinnon blasted a shot that struck Tarasov’s mask and popped straight up and out of play. Tarasov effectively used his mask like a soccer header, a heads-up play that prevented Colorado from tying the game.
Bednar called timeout with 1:06 left on the clock. But the Avs were denied an 11th straight win and suffered just their third regulation defeat on the year.
The Avalanche (31-3-7) square off against the Tampa Bay Lightning (25-13-3) at Benchmark International Arena. Coverage begins at 5 p.m. local time.
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