Another Colorado comeback: Avalanche rally from 4-goal deficit this time in 5-4 win over Sabres

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Avalanche coach Jared Bednar has no explanation for his team’s struggles with slow starts.

At the same time, he’s also not questioning Colorado’s ability to respond when trailing, even as the Avs pushed Bednar’s patience and palpitations to their limits in pulling out their latest victory.

Behind Artturi Lehkonen’s goal with 4:22 remaining and newcomer Scott Wedgewood coming in cold to stop all 22 shots he faced in a backup role, the Avalanche overcame a 4-0 first-period deficit to rally for a 5-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night. In doing so, Colorado became the first team NHL this season to overcome a four-or-more goal deficit, while marking the 90th time that’s happened in league history.

“It’s still recovering from that one,” Bednar said, of how his heart felt. “Strange game.”

It shouldn’t be for Bednar and the Avalanche (13-12), who have become accustomed to winning when falling behind not just this season, but last year, too.

Colorado finished tied for second in the NHL last season in winning 26 games when trailing at any point of a game. And that included the Avalanche being the last team to overcome a four-goal deficit in a 5-4 OT win over Pittsburgh on March 24.

This season, eight of Colorado’s wins have come after trailing. And this was the Avalanche’s league-leading seventh victory out of the 17 times they've trailed after one period.

Adding to the degree of difficulty on Tuesday, was Buffalo building a 4-0 lead on eight shots through 11:49 of the first period to chase starting goalie Alexandar Georgiev.

Nathan MacKinnon, who scored twice and assisted on Lehkonen’s goal, credited Bednar for keeping his cool.

“Bedsy didn’t rip us too bad. He was pretty calm,” MacKinnon said of Bednar’s message during the first intermission. “I find sometimes when the coach comes in and he’s negative upon how negative we feel, it’s just tough to come back.”

MacKinnon started the rally by intercepting Connor Clifton’s clearing attempt through the middle and roofing a 23-footer 2:24 into the second period. The Avalanche then struck for four goals in the third, with MacKinnon tying the game 7:39 in by tipping in Mikko Rantanen’s shot from the left point.

Lehkonen scored when he was parked in front and swept in a loose puck after Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped Calvin de Haan's shot from the left point.

“When we’re down, it feels like we’re pressing hard, and when we’re in attack mode, it’s tough to contain us, I guess,” MacKinnon said.

He also drew a laugh when asked the secret of the Avalanche’s ability to erase early deficits.

“I don’t know. We never score first, I guess,” MacKinnon said.

And credit Wedgewood, a seven-year journeyman, who is now with his fifth NHL team after being acquired in a trade from Nashville last weekend. Due to traveling back home to Nashville to see his family and pack, he didn’t enjoy his first skate with his new team until Tuesday morning as Colorado opened a five-game trip.

“I’ve gone in at times and the first shot on me has gone in. It’s nothing of lack of trying, and that’s the toughest part of that is you’re kind of cold,” said Wedgewood, whose second save was getting his pad out to stop Beck Malenstyn’s tip-in chance at the right post. “So get in there, try to stop the bleeding, and it ended up being a good night for me to do it.”

The Avalanche’s joy was countered by the Sabres' frustration.

“It (stinks), honestly. Each and every guy needs to be better,” forward Alex Tuch said. “We thought it was going to be easy, that they were just going to go into a hole. It’s former Stanley Cup champs over there. ... You can’t give them opportunities like that.”

In dropping to 11-12-2, the Sabres are enduring yet another up-and-down season in an attempt to snap an NHL-record 13-season playoff drought. They dropped to 0-3-1 in their past four, which followed a promising stretch in which they won seven of nine.

Sloppy passes, lack of defensive net-front presence and having star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin miss the third period with back spasms all contributed to the loss, coach Lindy Ruff said.

“It's hard, painful,” Ruff said. “It’s my job not to let it snowball. We’ll address it. We’ll deal with it. We’ll go over it. It’s hard, painful.”

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, left, celebrates with right wing Mikko Rantanen after scoring during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, N.Y., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Colorado Avalanche left wing Artturi Lehkonen (62) celebrates after scoring during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, N.Y., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Colorado Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood, bottom, reaches for a loose puck with defenseman Calvin de Haan, left, and right wing Nikolai Kovalenko, back, during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, N.Y., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Colorado Avalanche left wing Artturi Lehkonen (62) celebrates after scoring during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres in Buffalo, N.Y., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Authorities fear a grandmother in western Pennsylvania who disappeared while looking for her cat may have been swallowed by a sinkhole.

Crews lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole on Tuesday but no sound was detected, while a second camera lowered down showed what could be a shoe.

Police say Elizabeth Pollard's relatives called police at about 1 a.m. to say she hadn’t been seen since Monday evening when she went to search for her cat. They found Pollard’s 5-year-old granddaughter in her parked car near the manhole-sized opening.

Here are some things to know about sinkholes:

A sinkhole is an area of ground that has no natural external surface drainage and can form when the ground below the land surface can no longer support the land above, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The land usually stays intact for a period of time until the underground spaces just get too big. If there is not enough support for the land above the spaces, then a sudden, dramatic collapse of the land surface can happen.

Sinkholes are most common in what geologists call karst terrain, which involves types of rock including limestone below the land surface that can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them. They can also happen due to old underground mines.

The most damage from sinkholes in the U.S. tends to occur in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Florida, for example, is highly susceptible to sinkholes because it sits above limestone.

Sinkholes can range in size from holes that are just a few feet wide to ones that cover a vast area spanning hundreds of acres. Their depth can also vary from just a few inches to more than 100 feet (more than 30 meters). Some are shaped like shallow bowls or saucers, whereas others have vertical walls. Some hold water and form ponds.

In June, a giant sinkhole in southern Illinois swallowed the center of a soccer field built on top of a limestone mine, taking down a large light pole and leaving a gaping chasm where squads of kids often play. No one was hurt.

In 2023, a sinkhole that in 2013 fatally swallowed a man sleeping in his house in suburban Tampa, Florida, reopened for a third time, but it was behind chain-link fencing and caused no harm to people or property. Officials said the sinkhole reopening was not unusual, especially in central Florida with its porous limestone base.

A large sinkhole opened up in 2020 in South Dakota near where a man was mowing his lawn. Testing revealed a large, improperly sealed mine beneath part of the housing subdivision, and a 40-foot-deep (12-meter-deep) pit mine in another corner of the neighborhood, a lawyer for some of the area homeowners said. Since the first giant collapse, more sinkholes have appeared.

A large sinkhole that swallowed oil field equipment and some vehicles in southeastern Texas in 2008 expanded in 2023 when another sinkhole developed and joined the first one.

FILE - TDOT workers assess damage done by a sinkhole on eastbound Interstate 24 near Grundy County Tuesday May 18, 2010 near Chattanooga, Tenn. (Danielle Moore/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP, File)

FILE - This photo provided by Brunswick County Sheriff's Office shows a police officer checking on a vehicle that fell into a sinkhole on a highway in Brunswick County, N.C., after a storm dropped historic amounts of rain, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Brunswick County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

FILE - Officials stand on one edge of a giant sinkhole on the property of the Louisville Zoo, Wednesday, March 6, 2019, in Louisville, Ky. (Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal via AP, File)

FILE - A sinkhole is shown after opening in the road at the intersection of McAlpin Street and McLawren Terrace in The Villages, Florida, on Monday, May 21, 2018. (George Horsford/Daily Sun via AP, File)

FILE - A St. Louis police officer looks over a large hole in 6th Street, Thursday, June 29, 2017, in St. Louis, that swallowed a Toyota Camry between Olive and Locust Streets. (Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP, File)

Rescue workers search through the night in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)