The Avalanche forced their fourth overtime tonight; however, unlike the previous occurrences, they were unable to capitalize during 3-on-3 play, eventually falling to the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in a shootout—their first of the season.
Despite the unique end to the contest, the beginning was very much the same story: a slow start and an early deficit. It started with another Nikita Zadorov penalty, tripping in the defensive zone, and after a reasonably effective John Mitchell forecheck on the penalty kill, Vancouver found themselves with a viable odd-man rush. Markus Granlund fed Loui Eriksson a nice cross-ice pass and Eriksson beat Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard shortside to put the Canucks up 1-0 just 3:43 into the game.