Avs rally off four unanswered goals to down Canucks, 4-3, in OT Canucks let up off the gas, and get passed by Avs in OT loss

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In Vancouver, the Canucks took their foot off the gas on Wednesday night after they grabbed a 3-0 lead on the Colorado Avalanche. That was a mistake as the Avs ripped off three straight goals in regulation to tie the game, and Valeri Nichushkin scored 30 seconds into extra time for the win.

“Best win of the year for sure,” MacKinnon said. “We didn’t quit.”

Alexandar Georgiev made 18 saves in the win.

Colorado improved to 42-20-5) off their fifth straight win.

The Canucks were buzzing throughout the first period, and took a 2-0 lead in the first 20 minutes.

J.T. Miller staked the Canucks to a 1-0 lead with 24 seconds gone in the game, scoring off a deflection.

“Good start and then we let a tired team get back into it and eventually take over the game,” Miller said. “We just kind of hope it works out when we have leads instead of taking control of the game … We didn’t win our battles, we didn’t execute our passes, we’re dumping it in for no reason, no forecheck. They outplayed us, they deserved to win.”

Vancouver’s Ilya Mikheyev stretched the lead to 2-0 at 2:44, scoring from down low. .

“Just more confidence for me,” Mikheyev said. “Too much thinking sometimes. Just keep believing, keep working. I know it’s coming.”

In the middle frame, Nikita Zadorov padded the lead to 3-0 at 4:23, scoring from the left circle. From there it was all Avalanche.

“I think we lift our foot off the gas,” Zadorov said. “We’ve got to have a killer instinct. We can’t give them any chance to come back in the game. They got one late in the second and then they got a power play and then they just keep coming, and we couldn’t really get out of the zone. The teams like that, the players, their caliber … when you get a 3-0 (lead), you’ve got to learn how to play with this lead and just don’t feed the animal. Just step on their throat and then shut it down.”

The Canucks dropped to 42-17-8, snapping a four-game streak.

Colorado started the rally with a strike by Mikko Rantanen with three seconds left in the middle frame to trim the deficit to 3-1 headed to the third period.

“It’s a big goal,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “You get a little momentum and there’s a bit more belief and you start to push like we did in the third period.”

Nathan MacKinnon hit off a two-skater power play to make it 3-2 at 3:19 of the third, scoring form the left circle.

“MacKinnon said ‘I’m taking this game,’” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “They started to go, MacKinnon and them started to fly, and we just couldn’t get anybody to grab hold of a puck, whether it’s on a forecheck or a breakout, just to kind of slow things down. We were a little hot potato [with the puck] and we were kind of soft on the puck, mostly in the third. We need some guys to dig in on certain situations and we couldn’t get anybody to grab a puck for us and hold it.”

Ross Colton forced the extra session when he tied the game, 3-3, at 8:43.

“We really dominated the third period,” MacKinnon said. “It was a fun win and to have that kind of third against this team — that’s a really, really good team, a tough team to play against — there was a lot of fight tonight.”

Casey DeSmith made 30 saves in the loss.