In the span of five games, the Colorado Avalanche look mortal. Despite only having 14 losses this season, four of them have come in the past five games. While Nathan MacKinnon and Co. have a lot of leg room for errors, Coach Jared Bednar was not too pleased after they came up short at Ball Arena against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Plenty of orange hats on the ice in Denver! #PHIvsCOL | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/W3TO4lRnNN
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 24, 2026
Colorado devastatingly loses 7-3 to Philly
The Flyers hit a season-high seven goals at the home of the Avalanche. It was all Owen Tippett as the Colorado defensemen failed to stop him. Tippett notched a hat trick while also giving out an assist. He was the clear offensive engine that Philadelphia needed and the others followed suit. Denver Barkey, Bobby Brink, and Matvei Michkov all ended scoring goals as well.
This meant that the Avalanche’s defense was on full blast during the whole game. It was much to the dismay of Coach Bednar that Colorado could not contain the fourth-seeded team from the Metropolitan Division, via Ryan Boulding of NHL.com.
“So you got 40 minutes under your belt where you’re playing real well, confidence is high, and then you come out and make a lot of bad mistakes and do some strange things at the start of the third period that cost you, right? I don’t know what happened at the start there, mismanaging the puck and then just not heading to the right spot. So, I mean, the start of the third was horrible,” the Avalanche head coach declared.
By the end of it all, Mackenzie Blackwood ended up having to defend against 19 shots and having a horrid 68.4% save percentage. On the offensive side, MacKinnon could not do much to spark a comeback. On 26:15 minutes of play, he only managed to have one shot on goal while giving out two assists in the second period.
Despite the Avalanche being nine points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning, the next-best team in the NHL, they still need to prove that they have the momentum to hoist the Stanley Cup. Coach Bednar along with MacKinnon need to shift the energy fast. Hopefully, they are able to turn things around before the Olympic break commences.
