Game Two Recap: Avs can’t come back for second straight game

Can’t always rely on the comeback for Colorado.

It’s tough trying to get out of your own grave that you’re digging.

That was the message for the Colorado Avalanche in Game Two against the Dallas Stars, as they got themselves into a hole they couldn’t get themselves out of. They went down 4-0 and couldn’t make it all the way back in the end, with a 5-3 loss in Texas.

Three third-period goals made things interesting for the Avs, but they couldn’t muster it all up in the end. While it was fun in the third with streaky scoring for the Avalanche, it was the first 40 minutes of the game which was the biggest problem. Hence, the series shifts to Colorado all evened up at one. Here’s how it all went down.

First Period

Both teams had even starts, without too many high-danger chances. But out of the two goaltenders with even shots, Alexandar Georgiev was busier with the better chances being created by Dallas.

After killing off a too-many-men penalty, the Avs kept finding themselves in trouble. Cale Makar would block a shot off the back of his leg, leaving him in some pain. While he would be okay to continue, Nathan MacKinnon took a delay of game penalty which proved to be costly with a Miro Heiskanen finish.

Both goaltenders would be called upon to make massive saves. Georgiev made sure the Stars only had one goal going into the room, making a pair of saves with brilliant pushes from side to side. Meanwhile, Jake Oettinger robbed both Zach Parise and Valeri Nichushkin in the final minutes to keep the donut on the board for Colorado.

Second Period

Miles Wood had a carbon copy chance of his overtime winner in Game One on Monday, but he wasn’t able to get all the way around Oettinger this time around. Unfortunately for the visiting team, it would be the closest they’d get to the net all period long.

Dallas stormed and took over the game from there. It started first with a nice passing play being finished off by Roope Hintz to double the lead.

Drama would then unfold behind Georgiev’s net. Devon Toews took a big hit from Jamie Benn, going down hurt and down the tunnel for some time before returning. While he was able to come back, the hit by Benn was ruled clean after reviewing it for a major penalty, and no penalty was called at all. While the initial point of contact was not with the head, it wasn’t a pretty look at all to see one of Colorado’s star defensemen go down at the hands of Benn.

This didn’t deter the Stars at all, as they had chances galore. Joe Pavelski had a breakaway get loose off his stick, and continued odd-man rushes. The Avs kept taking penalties as well, with Josh Manson off for delay of game and Sean Walker going off for slashing.

While Colorado killed off the first penalty, they didn’t get so lucky on the second one. Heiskanen recorded his second goal of the game, getting some help from Andrew Cogliano’s stick to beat Georgiev a third time.

Even when shorthanded, the Stars still controlled the game. The Avs did nothing with a power play when Hintz held Mikko Rantanen. Instead, they gave up a 3-on-1 the other way with Tyler Seguin finishing it off to all but put the game to bed still with 20 minutes to go and up 4-0.

Third Period

After some 4-on-4 play with both Joel Kiviranta and Mason Marchment going off for interference and embellishment respectively, Colorado would get some life. It would come from the former Star Kiviranta scoring on a rebound in front to get his new team on the board.

With Colorado killing off their second too-many-men penalty, they would continue to push and find just a little bit more life with Brandon Duhaime scoring his first career playoff goal.

The Avs kept on pushing, finding ways to work around the Stars and get pucks to the net. While they had good shifts and were putting Dallas on the backfoot, they couldn’t beat Oettinger still – including a wicked deflection which he just managed to save with his stick to send it wide.

Oettinger’s opposite would be pulled with 4:02 left in the period, with Colorado looking for anything to try and chip away into the two-goal lead. They would get one more to make things really interesting, with Artturi Lehkonen’s shot going off of Nichushkin to bring it within one.

There would be even more chances with Toews getting caught by a high stick by Wyatt Johnston. Colorado got several looks, but just couldn’t quite get the puck through defenders and Oettinger. Dallas would ice it with a long empty netter to end the game with a 5-3 win.

Takeaways

You knew Dallas would respond after losing Game One in overtime, and they did just that. Meanwhile, Colorado went in reverse from their performance just 48 hours ago in the first two periods. Luckily, they at least took one of the two games in Texas to come home with an even series. The Avs showed up in the third period with three goals and made things really interesting, but it was too little, too late.

They need to play better consistently as they did in the third to keep momentum in their favor as they have done in the second half of both games in Dallas. They also need to be better on special teams, which was killer for them. Two too-many-men penalties, and a couple of delay-of-game penalties led to two power-play goals for the Stars, whereas the Avs went 0-for-3 on the man advantage.

Goaltending was superb on both sides. Even though Georgiev gave up four goals, none of them were solely on him. He might want his positioning on some of the goals to be better to have a better chance of stopping them, but for the most part, he was left out to dry. The Avs defense kept being caught out, moved around, and scrambled, leaving plenty of open chances for the Stars. Overall, Colorado’s netminder made sure things didn’t end up being much worse than they did in the end.

At the other end, Oettinger wasn’t as busy as his opposite but made incredible saves on Parise and Nichushkin just to name a few. This is what people thought the presumed Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck would’ve looked like in the first round with the Winnipeg Jets, but now we’re seeing it with Oettinger. Colorado has to do a better job of getting in front of him and making his life much more difficult than it was in Game Two.

Upcoming

The series shifts back to Denver on Saturday night in front of what should be another fun and rowdy Ball Arena crowd. Puck drop is at 8:00 p.m. MT on TNT, truTV and Max.