I hated that game from start to finish

Jared Bednar has heaped plenty of praise on his team this season, even on the rare nights when the result didn’t go its way.

That was not the case Friday night.

The Colorado Avalanche stumbled to a 7-3 loss against the Nashville Predators, its first in regulation at Ball Arena this season. Ex-Avs center Ryan O’Reilly had a hat trick and four points for Nashville.

“There were no positives. There really weren’t,” Bednar said. “I hated that game from start to finish, pretty much. … We didn’t do enough to win the hockey game, so there is nothing I liked.”

The Avs are now 19-1-3 at home this season, but have lost the past two after also dropping a 4-3 decision in overtime to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Colorado has also lost four of its past six games (2-3-1), dating back to being swept on the road at Florida and Tampa Bay.

Devon Toews has not played in any of these games after getting hurt at Carolina. Captain Gabe Landeskog has been out since getting hurt against the Panthers. Both remain week-to-week with upper-body injuries.

“There are trends that are coming our way,” Bednar said. “You’re missing key guys, so everyone’s job becomes more important. What are some guys doing in our lineup from what expectations are in the way we know they can play for long periods of time and what they are doing now, it’s not enough. That’s one, and that’s on the individuals themselves to get going.

“Two is we’re not defending hard enough as a unit, as a group of five consistently. We have flashes where we’re doing it right, playing hard and competing hard on the defensive side … and then we don’t. The offense isn’t a problem. Even tonight it looked great at times when we got in the offensive zone, but we’re just not getting there enough because we’re spending too much time defending and our puck moving hasn’t been as efficient, either.”

Mackenzie Blackwood, making his first start since Dec. 31, allowed five goals on 28 shots for the Avs and lost for just the third time this season (13-2-1). Nashville’s Juuse Saros made 38 saves, including a couple of highlight-reel stops in the second period.

“Some things were good, some things were bad,” Blackwood said. “Overall, not horrible, but honestly I don’t think I played up to how I’m capable. A little bit of stuff to clean up, but stuff to build on for sure.”

Nashville took control of this contest with a pair of second-period goals. O’Reilly completed his hat trick at 13:01 of the middle period by tipping a Luke Evangelista shot for his 16th goal of the season to make it a 3-2 game.

The former Avs center now has 13 goals and 39 points in 37 career games against Colorado. O’Reilly has played at least 30 games against 18 NHL franchises, and the Avs are the only one he is averaging at least one point per game against.

Michael Bunting made it a 4-2 lead with 1:56 remaining in the second. Colorado’s Valeri Nichushkin lost control of the puck as he tried to pass it to a cutting Josh Manson and Nashville quickly counter-attacked. Steven Stamkos flipped a pass from the middle of the ice to Bunting streaking down the left wing and he hammered a wrist shot just under the crossbar and in.

It was only the second time this season Colorado has trailed by two goals after two periods at Ball Arena this season. The Avs were down 4-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 23 but rallied to force overtime before losing 5-4 in a shootout.

Martin Necas scored early in the third period to get Colorado back within a goal, but O’Reilly set up Filip Forsberg for a power-play goal with 4:47 left and Stamkos scored into an empty net to end any doubt.

O’Reilly and Brock Nelson both scored twice in the opening period. Nashville took a quick 1-0 lead just 30 seconds in. Forsberg collected the rebound of his own shot off a faceoff win, and then found O’Reilly cutting to the net.

Nelson got that one back just 54 seconds later. He won a faceoff back to Brent Burns at the right point, and then was in front of the net to poke the rebound through Saros’ legs at 1:24.