The Colorado Avalanche began a three-game road trip as they finish out the final week before the Four Nations Faceoff break in Vancouver against the inconsistent Canucks. It didn’t go Colorado’s way as they were shutout themselves, 3-0, by the Canucks.
After a dominant two-game homestand that saw them shutout both the St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers, the hope was that the Avs would continue their solid run of form on the road.
It…sort of happened? The Avs came out absolutely flying in the first period and were dominating the Canucks. They were awesome and did everything you could want…except score. It didn’t go Colorado’s way early and when the Canucks finally woke up, the Avalanche failed to regain that dangerous form the rest of the way.
A wonky play in the second period saw Jake DeBrusk catch a pop-up in front of Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood and slap at the puck, only catching a small piece. It was the only piece he needed as the puck found its way behind Blackwood. That was all of the offense the Canucks needed, but it wasn’t all the offense they would get.
In the third period with the Avs trailing 1-0 and trying to find the game-tying goal, Logan O’Connor got mixed up at center ice with Elias Pettersson the defenseman (“dPetey” as they call him in Vancouver so as not to be confused with the forward of the same name).
While they were battling in a classic hockey scrum, Miles Wood came over and interjected himself into the mix and earned a penalty. Vancouver scored on the ensuing power play and it was 2-0 Canucks. The third period got wild after that but we’ll talk about that later. Later is now.
What happened in that third period to Miles Wood and the Avs?
I tweeted after Wood took that penalty that he should probably gear that down and was hit with a deluge of responses about how he was sticking up for O’Connor and that’s how teams should react and all. Sometimes, I agree with that sentiment, but this was not one of them.
My main issues here are two-fold. O’Connor was not hurt, was not on the end of a dirty hit, and most importantly, was already sticking up for himself. I understand the arguments when Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon get involved and a guy like Wood jumps in the line of fire for that. I hear you.
Honestly, O’Connor just wasn’t in need of help. He was holding his own and they were having a “boys being boys” kerfuffle. It was fine. Wood got turbocharged for no reason.
The other problem I have is, obviously, the game situation. Down 1-0 in the third period, is that the time for that? It wasn’t a huge hit or anything. Yes, O’Connor took a cross-check to the face that should have been called, but again, he was handling it himself.
The Canucks then scored on an inexplicable 2v1 on the PK allowed by Keaton Middleton and Sam Girard.
As the Avs were getting desperate and pushing, Wood ended up taking another penalty as he tracked back to try to stop a Canucks breakaway. He was called for Slashing or Roughing and you could easily argue that it was a smart penalty to take. If Vancouver scores there, the game is over. I get what he’s doing there.
What I don’t get is what happens next. As he skated to the penalty box, he cup-checked a Canucks player who was just skating by. That caused another Canucks player to get after Wood, which caused Ross Colton to get after that guy. In the end, this is what it looked like:
It put the Avs on a four-minute penalty kill, which became a two-minute 5v3 when Cale Makar was called for hooking 1:05 into the power play. Hilariously, the Avs killed it off.
All of this is to say that Wood just went a little haywire and Colton went with him, though that makes a lot more sense because he really was just defending a teammate (it didn’t look like he saw the cup-check from Wood so he only saw Wood getting “attacked”, for lack of a better word).
Just an ugly, ugly third period.
Avs aren’t good enough to overcome missed chances
The reality for me tonight is this game showed exactly what the Avs are. They can be both a great defensive team at times, bleed the absolute best scoring chances imaginable, and are not good enough offensively to squander Grade-A opportunities. That’s what we saw early on.
Colorado’s top line was generating scoring chances at a dizzying rate as both Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas were shredding Vancouver’s defensive structure and Artturi Lehkonen was robbed on a golden one-timer scoring chance.
Even Colorado’s depth was getting into the act as the Jack Drury line (with Wood and Colton, mind you) didn’t allow a single shot attempt against in the first period.
Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko, who has badly struggled this season, was helped out a ton when the Avs beat him on three different occasions but rang the puck off the post instead. MacKinnon, Makar, and Martin Necas all drew iron and despite blitzing the Canucks to the tune of a 20-8 advantage in shot attempts at 5v5, the first period finished 0-0.
From there, Colorado’s offense tailed off. They had a great first period with nine scoring chances at four high-danger chances. They generated 1.31 expected goals. It felt dirty walking out of there 0-0.
The second period saw a decent offensive push as the Avs still created 11 scoring chances and 0.85 expected goals, but only one high-danger chance. As that was happening, the Canucks were building their offensive game as they had 13 scoring chances (versus just three in period 1) and six high-danger chances (versus one in period 1).
After that, the third period fiasco happened and Colorado’s offense went dark. All of the late-game penalties meant only 12:04 of 5v5 time but the Avs only had four scoring chances and one high-danger chance. That isn’t good enough for a team behind on the scoreboard. It just isn’t.
After a handful of games of getting quality performances from lines beyond MacKinnon’s, everyone else failed to show up the entire game. The Avs just can’t win like that very often. The formula needs to be one from MacKinnon’s line, one from the rest of the forwards, and one from somewhere else. That’s just to start.
Blackwood was good once again with 28 saves on 30 shots on goal. We all thought the Avs would be fine once they got a goaltender, then they did, and other things became a problem. It’s been that kind of year in Denver.
Defensive depth remains a need
I’ve been writing about this for a while, but the Avalanche have three defensemen they trust and everyone else is in a blender with pure hope.
Josh Manson was bad to start the game, continuing a poor run of form from him, and his terrible penalty near the end of the first period helped create the momentum the Canucks used to build at the start of period 2.
In the end, Manson played just 10:11. Makar played 30:17 and that’s with him taking a two-minute penalty late in the game. Devon Toews playing 33:00 (!!) and Girard logged 19:15. Sam Malinski came in next at 13:32 with Middleton finishing behind him at 10:50.
It’s been obvious for a while that the Avs would need to make a move for another defenseman. It’s my contention that they should be playing Oliver Kylington over Middleton or Malinski, but I imagine some of that stubborn coach stuff got involved about changing the lineup after consecutive shutouts. Regardless, Kylington needs to draw back in somewhere.
Middleton’s skating is awful for any NHL team but for an Avs team built on speed, he cannot handle the game. His penalty in the first period happened because he was getting smoked wide by Filip Chytil and he had to grab him. He later completely blew his coverage on the PK which caused Girard to try to cover for him and both players ended up defending nothing.
Malinski at least showed a little willingness on offense, but four weak shots from the point with nobody screening the net aren’t likely to break the glacial points drought he’s been in since the season began. Manson’s game has been a total mess for weeks, too. Puck management, penalties, sloppiness in his own zone. You name it, Manson has fought it.
I don’t know if it’s all the wrist injury he’s still fighting, but at this point it doesn’t really matter. The Avs need help back there.