Good and bad: Prishchepov plays well in debut, but Avalanche falls 2-5 and loses for the third time in a row

The struggling Avalanche lost for the third straight time on Saturday, falling 5-2 to the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena.

The Avs again played without six of their top 10 forwards, which will change on Tuesday when they host the Seattle Kraken and expect to have Artturi Lehkonen back. But unlike the last game, Colorado started strong and even scored the first goal. Unfortunately for Jared Bednar's team, that was their only goal until the end of the third period. The Avs began the season with four straight losses before winning five straight games. And since then the losing streak has been three games.

Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon had Colorado's targets. Makar's was a sharpshooter when the Avs played 4-on-3. And MacKinnon's came late in the third period with a 6-on-5 attack. Both Casey Mittelstadt and MacKinnon were credited with assists for the opening goal, meaning Makar and MacKinnon's season-opening points streak was extended to twelve games each.

The Avs returned Justus Annunen between the pipes after giving him two days off. Annunen made 20 saves but was outplayed by Nashville's Juuse Saros. More about him shortly. Colorado has used each of its three goaltenders during the losing streak: Alexandar Georgiev started on Monday, Kaapo Kahkonen on Wednesday and Justus Annunen on Saturday.

Bednar also made some other changes to his lineup. First, defenseman Calvin de Haan, who was often a healthy backup with Tampa Bay last season, sat out for one game in favor of John Ludvig. It's the second time the Avs have injured de Haan when he's healthy. Ludvig was paired with Sam Malinski in the third pair. The other two pairings remained the same as against the Lightning, with Samuel Girard playing with Makar and Devon Toews on the second pairing with Josh Manson.

The other change came forward. After Matt Stienburg was suspended for two games and sent back to the AHL, Colorado called up Nikita Prishchepov. The Russian forward made his NHL debut and deserves to be highlighted for his performance. More on this below.

Nashville got goals from Steven Stamkos, Colton Sissons and Roman Josi. The trio had only scored one goal between them before the match against the Avalanche. Filip Forsberg and Gustav Nyquist both scored later in an empty net.

Colorado fell to 5-7-0 this season.

Bad: Avs face another hot goalie

Juuse Saros somehow looked like a poor man's Dominik Hasek on Saturday. The Hall of Fame goaltender made a career out of flopping around the goal crease, but it was just the way he played. Saros had a lot of luck with the puck. Anyway, he had a strong game, but it was total chaos. Saros wobbled around the crease, fighting for rebounds and desperately trying to keep the puck away from the net. He even had help from his post and teammate Filip Forsberg, who swept a puck off the goal line.

The unfortunate thing for Bednar's club was that they once again faced a hot goalie. Against Tampa Bay, Colorado trailed by as many as three goals, but still could have found its way back into the game if it weren't for Andrei Vasilevskiy. But against the Preds, it was a different kind of frustration. It was a winnable game until the end.

The Avs scored first and had several opportunities to take the lead early in the game. Given Makar's tally, they had a handful of opportunities to go up two or regain the lead after Stamkos made it 1-1. Nikita Prishchepov alone had three good chances to score.

Saros finished the night with 28 saves as Colorado defeated Nashville 30-25.

Good: Nikita Prishchepov

Let's talk about the rookie – the 20-year-old who was drafted 217th overall in June and made his NHL debut a little over four months later. I wrote about Prishchepov before the game and how he was the first seventh-round pick since the 2020 draft to play – and how he was also only the second seventh-round pick since 2005 to go out of the draft in the same year the NHL changed. Several comments were quick to point out his advanced age and how he only gets one chance because Colorado has five injuries and two suspensions in its forward group. That's all true, yes. But in the NHL you have to make the most of your opportunity, no matter how it comes.

Prishchepov did just that. Under the circumstances, he was incredible in his NHL debut. Not only did he have three good chances to score, but every single one of them came in and around the goal area. He also plays a heavy game and was able to move his body quite well. It's exactly the kind of debut you'd want from a kid who might be a player in the future. Prishchepov caused a stir in training camp and should make a good impression again on Saturday. Solid debut for the boy.