Facing the burning heat Colorado Avalanche in the high altitudes of Denver wasn’t exactly the ideal route for Ottawa Senators to end a week-long road trip out west.

For most of the game, the Sens looked gassed and outplayed for long stretches, but they still made a game of it. Ultimately, after a wild finish, they lost to the Avalanche 5- 4 on Sunday for their second consecutive defeat. For Colorado, it was a fifth straight victory, thanks to three assists from Casey Mittelstadt.

It’s always bad for business to give up a goal in the last minute of a period. The Senators were able to do it twice as the Avs took a 2-0 lead into the final period. Nikolai Kovalenkoson of former Avalanche Andrei Kovalenko, scored his first NHL goal with eight seconds left in the first. Josh Manson scored with 18 seconds left in the second.

Anton Forsberg was Ottawa’s best player, keeping the Senators in the game from the start. He also had some weird moments in the second period, having to leave the game twice to fix a skating issue, forcing Linus Ullmark come in cold and play for more than four minutes.

The game began to relax towards the end of the second period. A few moments later Thomas Chabot hit the post with a backhand attempt, Brady Tkachuk And Tim Stutzle failed to capitalize on a 2-on-0.

The Sens were flat at the start of the third period, but the last eleven minutes were crazy, with the two teams combining for seven goals. Brady Tkachuk And Nick Cousins got a scoring flurry midway through the third with a couple of quick goals for Ottawa to tie it up.

90 seconds later, Colorado got two quickies from Logan O’Connor And Ross Colton to restore the two-goal lead. Claude Giroux responded to cut it to 4-3. Nathan Mackinnon made it 5-3 with an empty net, then Giroux scored again to make it 5-4 with ten seconds remaining. But that was all.

A grueling end to what had started as such a close defensive battle.

The Sens fall to 4-4, now one of six teams in the Atlantic with a .500 record. They have just one day off and then host the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.