Hurricanes fall short in 3-1 loss to Avalanche

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

DENVER, COLO. – Though the Carolina Hurricanes got on the board early, they weren’t able to climb higher at altitude, and eventually suffered a 3-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center on Tuesday.

Justin Faulk’s 12th goal of the season came at 6:08 of the first period, a play set-up by local product Jaccob Slavin who assisted on the play, and extended his current point streak to five games (0g, 5a).

Colorado won the two teams’ first matchup of the season, 2-1 in overtime, back on Feb. 17 at PNC Arena.

It was another closely-contested meeting, but possessing a 9-0-1 record at home against Carolina, the Avalanche poured it on during the final 40 minutes of play and posted the win.

Goals from Gabriel Landeskog and Tyson Barrie came 46 seconds apart late in the second, while an empty-netter from Nathan MacKinnon with 50 seconds remaining in regulation finalized the result for the Avalanche.

“I thought we were okay,” Carolina head coach Bill Peters said.

“Two quick ones there at the end of the second turned the tide.”

Goaltender Eddie Lack made 22 saves in the losing effort for Carolina while Colorado’s Calvin Pickard made 25 stops and extended his career record against the Hurricanes to 3-0-1.

“I didn’t think we generated much,” Peters said.

“Our third period was our most dangerous, just looking at our chances. I didn’t think we generated a whole bunch from start to finish.”

Carolina returns home to prepare for its next two games at PNC Arena against the New York Rangers on Thursday and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

Boxscore: Colorado 3, Carolina 1