After their 5-3 loss to the Nashville Predators on Saturday night, the question for the Colorado Avalanche is, how much worse can things get before they get better? Entering the third period of the game, the teams were tied at two, but Matt Duchene put the Avalanche up a goal when he scored at 2:54 in the period. That gave way to three unanswered goals by the Predators, the first a little over a minute after Duchene's goal. Cody Franson added the Predators' fourth goal at 17:30 for what turned into the game-winner. David Legwand added an empty-net goal with less than a minute to play.
The Predators consistently outshot the Avalanche, who had four shots on net in the first period, five in the second and nine in the third. The Predators had 39 shots on goal in total, eclipsing the Avalanche on a period-by-period basis.
Kevin Porter and David Jones had the other goals for the Avalanche.
John-Michael Liles was scarce in this game, not playing in the first period for some as-yet unidentified reason.He was on the ice for only 13 minutes and change.
The Avalanche (25-25-6, 56 points) have dropped seven games in a row and have lost nine of their last 10 games. The seven-game losing streak is the longest since the team arrived in Denver. They will return home for a Monday night game against the Calgary Flames at Pepsi Center. Craig Anderson is expected back between the Pipes for the Avs.