The opportunity was there for the Nashville Predators to once again tie a game near the end of regulation, but this time it turned out differently than Thursday night’s win against Calgary. A tying goal was waved off with less than four minutes in regulation, the Colorado Avalanche notched an empty net goal, and the Predators lost 3-2.
Even though the scoreboard wouldn’t necessarily agree, the Predators had plenty of offensive opportunities Saturday night against the Avalanche, yes, even in the second period. With Colorado ip 2-0 entering the third period, Viktor Arvidsson finally got Nashville on the board at 14:40 of the third period. Then, with just under four minutes left in regulation, it appeared that Dante Fabbro had scored, but the goal was waved off. Colin Blackwell was heading towards the net out of the blue paint. The puck entered the net and afterward, Nikita Zadorov pushed Blackwell into goaltender Pavel Francouz.
Since it was deemed a penalty with the goal waved off, the play was not eligible for review. Nashville killed off the ensuing power play for the Avalanche and pulled goaltender Juuse Saros. Colorado then scored an empty net goal with 57 seconds remaining in regulation to make it 3-1. Calle Jarnkrok scored a garbage time goal to make it 3-2 with two seconds remaining.
Watch post game reaction from Matt Duchene, Roman Josi, Viktor Arvidsson and John Hynes.
