NASHVILLE — The power play helped the Colorado Avalanche salvage a point and turned a regulation loss into a coin toss. For the fourth time in as many tries this season, the shootout did not flip the Avs’ way. This one took a scary turn though. Ryan O’Reilly scored the lone shootout goal for t he Nashville Predators in a 4-3 victory Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena. O’Reilly scored as the first shooter, but then Filip Forsberg crashed into Avs goalie Scott Wedgewood during the second attempt. Wedgewood was down for a bit, but stayed in the game and faced Nashville’s third shooter, Steven Stamkos. Before Avs captain Gabe Landeskog could attempt to extend the shootout with Colorado’s third try, the NHL’s concussion spotter made Wedgwood leave the ice. “(It was) the spotter from the collision, I guess,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Their call. I have nothing to do with it. If they see something they think is fishy, they call down for the safety of the players. “They just tell you he’s going to come out, and he comes out.” Mackenzie Blackwood didn’t have to face a shot because Landeskog did not score, and the Avs fell to 0-4 in the skills competition this season. That was secondary on the players’ minds after the game to Wedgewood’s health. Forsberg did not speak with the Nashville media after the game. “I don’t even know what happened,” Blackwood said. “You shouldn’t crash into him like that in the shootout. I don’t know … it was definitely weird.” Cale Makar scored during a 6-on-4 power play with 8.0 seconds left in regulation. It was a shot from the top of the zone through traffic. It helped the Avs avoid what would have been a third regulation loss in 30 games (21-2-7). Martin Necas and Nathan MacKinnon assisted on Makar’s goal, the second assist of the night for both players. MacKinnon now leads the NHL with 51 points, while Necas is up to 41. That was Makar’s 10th goal of the season, and his first on the power play. “I liked a couple of our power plays, the first one especially,” Bednar said. “Then you get down to the nitty-gritty at the end. The 6-on-5 was hard working … draws a penalty to give us a little bit more of an advantage. 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The Avs have outscored their opponents 41-14 in the third period this season, which is easily the best differential in the NHL by any team in any period. Brock Nelson put the Avs on the board first, just 72 seconds into the opening period. Josh Manson sent the puck to Nelson just before he reached the offensive zone. Nelson deked past Predators defenseman Roman Josi near the top of the left circle and then slipped a backhanded shot through Juuse Saros’ legs for his 11th goal of the season. Nashville scored twice in 85 seconds to grab the lead. Jonathan Marchessault got free on a coverage bust as the Predators entered the zone during a power play. Wedgewood stopped his first attempt, but looked beneath him for the puck as it kicked right back to Marchessault for an easy one at 4:05 of the first. The Avalanche won a defensive zone faceoff, but the puck ended up in its net seven seconds later. Reid Schaefer went into the right corner and checked Makar. He fell and took partner Devon Toews out of the play, the puck squirted free, and Schaefer had an open path to the net. He went across the face of the Avs goal and tucked one just inside the left post at 5:30. At that point, the shots were 5-3 in Nashville’s favor, and the guys in mustard yellow were in front. Colorado evened the score midway through the opening period, and then dominated the second despite neither team finding a goal. Artturi Lehkonen found the rebound of a Necas shot at the edge of the crease, spun and beat Saros inside the left post for his 11th goal of the season at 10:21. Both Lehkonen and Nelson are now scoring at a 30-goal pace. MacKinnon created the offensive possession with a nifty backhanded “catch” on a pass from Lehkonen in the neutral zone, and then took the puck away from ex-Avs center O’Reilly and got to Necas to start the scoring sequence. MacKinnon became the first NHL player to reach 50 for the second straight season. It’s also the second-fastest an Avalanche player has reached 50 points since the franchise moved to Denver. Playing in his 900th career game, MacKinnon also moved into 75th on the NHL career leaderboard with 1,066 points. Colorado’s power play helped win the game Sunday in Philadelphia, scoring a critical goal in a 3-2 victory, and helped earn at least a point in this one. The Avs had back-to-back-to-back power plays late in the second period and early in the third with this game even at 2-2, but could not convert. The fourth time was the charm, though, and the Avs are now 17 for 104 on with the man advantage this season. “We’ve just got to keep building, keep finding ways to do it,” Makar said. “We’ve got to find ways to capitalize 5-on-4 and put ourselves in a good spot to win the game earlier, rather than fight back at the end.” Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis. ...read more read less