Colorado Avalanche
Good & Bad: Injuries Pile on as Avalanche’s Third Period Comeback Falls Short in Dallas
The Avalanche entered the third period in Dallas on Friday trailing by three goals. They scored one, then another, but unlike Game 1 of last year’s playoff series, they couldn’t get that third goal. The result: An eventual empty-net goal for the Stars, who defeated the Avs 5-3 at American Airlines Center. And to make matters worse, the Avs suffered yet another injury to a key player.
Colorado got goals from Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen, and Mikko Rantanen. In goal, Alexandar Georgiev got the nod and made 19 saves. Colorado outshot Dallas 11-5 in the third period and 32-24 overall.
The scoring began early and on the power play. Both teams were getting whistled for penalties often throughout the first 40 minutes, which began with a hooking minor against Avs forward Nikolai Kovalenko. Dallas didn’t have much going on the power play until the very end and capitalized on its one opportunity. Tyler Seguin scored his ninth of the year to make it 1-0.
The Avs answered back just a few minutes later. They first drew a penalty and then scored on the power play. Nichushkin, who had the only goal against Vegas on Wednesday, got his third of the year and first on the man advantage. Mason Marchment answered back 36 seconds later to give the Stars another lead. They went on to control play from then until the third period when the Avs began to take over.
Jake Oettinger was great in goal for Dallas, finishing with 29 saves. Oettinger and the Stars’ PK were great on the other four man-advantage opportunities the Avs got after Nichushkin’s goal.
Good: Cale Makar’s insane assist — Colorado’s late push
It’s hard to credit the Avalanche for a comeback push that fell short. But it’s also worth noting it when you’re playing in Dallas against one of the best home records in the NHL. The Avs trailed 4-1 but came out strong to start the third. They first got a goal from Lehkonen, who fired it through Oettinger while Nichushkin was driving to the net. Then, Rantanen scored a vintage Rantanen goal, wiring home a one-timer from the right circle to make it 4-3 with 11:57 remaining in regulation.
The Rantanen goal was impressive, but, my goodness, the play from Makar leading to the goal was one for the highlight reels. In the words of ESPN’s Arda Ocal, When Makar decides it’s time for a goal, it’s time for a goal.
When Cale Makar decides it’s time for a goal, it’s time for a goalpic.twitter.com/6zDI8owSpb
— ᴀʀᴅᴀ Öᴄᴀʟ (@Arda) November 30, 2024
Bad: Another Injury
Last Saturday, the Avs scored seven goals on the defending Stanley Cup champs with a healthy lineup minus Ross Colton and Gabriel Landeskog. In the three games since, they’ve lost forwards Jonathan Drouin and Miles Wood, defenseman Oliver Kylington, and now they’ve lost defenseman Josh Manson.
Manson left the game with an upper-body injury in the second period and did not return.
Manson was favoring his hand or wrist area at the time of the collision with the boards and went right off the ice. He dropped his stick and glove on his way to the bench. It’s unclear at this time if Manson is expected to miss time, although I find it hard to believe he’ll be ready for Saturday’s quick turn-around home game against the Edmonton Oilers. Colorado has John Ludvig healthy and available and will likely use him at Ball Arena unless Kylington is ready to return by then.
Bednar did not have an update on Manson after the game.
“It’s definitely frustrating…it just seems like we’re having a tough time getting through a game right now healthy.”
— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) November 30, 2024
Bad: The Early Goalie Pull
With the Avs trailing 4-3, head coach Jared Bednar pulled Georgiev with 2:51 remaining. The analytics are on Bednar’s side, but I struggle with the thought that this was the right time. On one hand, Bednar has proof of concept and world-class players on the ice to find the game-tying goal with a 6-on-5 advantage. But on the other hand, with nearly three minutes remaining, it’s hard to convince me that pulling a goalie before cycling the puck and having control is the right move.
Yes, the Avs won the faceoff. Yes, the puck only went the other way because of a miscue on the pass from Nathan MacKinnon to Makar. But, had Bednar instead waited for his team to comfortably cycle the puck in the offensive zone, perhaps they would’ve had a better chance to tie things up. I’m likely grasping at straws and it’s only the 24th game of the season after all. But it was a somewhat puzzling move at first glance. Especially since the team had played well at 5-on-5 all period.
The Avs have already surrendered 10 empty-net goals this season. They only gave up 13 in the entire 2023-24 season.
Empty net goal for Dallas!
Scored by Mason Marchment with 02:43 remaining in the 3rd period.
Dallas: 5
Colorado: 3#COLvsDAL #TexasHockey #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/Dv5PpI8y9c— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) November 30, 2024
Avs had two major chances to score first and set the stage and MacK and Makar both choked away golden opportunities. Mac followed it by routinely playing his normal, deplorable defense and there we were down 1-4 and the rest of the game was just burning our legs for tomorrow.
It’s down 4-1, not 1-4 and I guess according to you they should have just coasted the entire third period and not tried to comeback at all. MacKinnon hit the crossbar and Oettinger got just enough of Makars shot to send it wide, but they chocked both away, right
Lol, silly me for my weird scorekeeping and silly me for expecting 2 of the top 5 players in the league cashing in on their prime chances in an important game (you may want to back and see how much of the goal was available to put the puck in on both chances). Losing to the Stars again and again is cool though. No team makes Jamie Benn look so full of youth like the Avs!
So you expect perfection, I guess the Avs should trade for 2 of the other 3 players in the top 5 because surely they score on all of their prime scoring chances
You are nutso! MacTO was a zero again. -1, and a second assit. He is just a small game hunter, cherry-picker!
You expect perfection yet fail to deliever, constantly!
They lost so your woulda, shoula, could no matter. Still mourning Kamaltoe? Like the Avs, never had a chance!
No l’tard, the visitor score is presented first (1) and the home team score presented (4) last. So Karl properly commented. Avs lost 3-5!
MacTO cannot remember this! Time to put MacTO on the PP so he can learn how to play defense!
I hope the injuries keep coming cause maybe just maybe the front office will actually do something. I hope the avs lose 10-1 tomorrow
Do what exactly?
Like maybe make a trade of some kind, which you posted about in a newer article.
Stars once again successfully disrupting the Avs passing game with extremely good sticks. We saw it in the playoffs and once again last night. But the game was really won on special teams. The Avs PK has been really bad this season. Worst in the league away from home. There has to be something that can be done there, right? After all, LoC, Nuke, Lehkonen, they all used to be amazing on the PK. What changed? New coach in charge of PK? And MacKinnon has just looked off in the last two weeks or so. I hope he finds his… Read more »
On PK it is hard to lay out in front of slappers when the rest of the team’s effort is so inconsistent!
I hate Dallas with a firey passion, particularly Benn and Marchment. As such, that game was hard to watch. It was a decent effort by the Avs, but allowing those two goons to get three of the five goals was just soul crushing for me. Hopefully Manson’s injury wasn’t as bad as it looked. And I was unaware of Kylington’s injury, which is also a bummer – he’s been playing really well lately. I hope he can go tonight, and that Bednar plays Ludvig over de Haan (who I think has looked worse every game). Fingers crossed for pairings of… Read more »
🙁
Decent effort…Lmfao. 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
“The puck only went the other way because of a miscue on the pass from Nathan MacKinnon to Makar.”
Shocker!
24 games into the season and the Avalanche look fantastic. First, Bednar coaching has the team playing complete team-first hockey. The defense has been impressive, and the offense has been lights out. The powerplay has been very powerful. The penalty kill has been impressive. The Avs physicality is tops in the league, every player forechecks and none cherry-pick. Incredible! The league’s top-paid player has been amazing too. Incredible puck control, incredible defense, and the goal production is off the charts. Top-paid is a phenomenal player and should be paid more in my opinion! Goodly, the leadership of aforementioned top paid player is so contagious everyone is clicking. Everyone is… Read more »
It is time to get some clarity on the Landeskog situation. Is he retiring, is he coming back and if so, it needs to be well before the playoffs. A playoff return to the ice will be too much for a player that hasn’t played a game in two plus years. Additionally we have no idea where he will slot in based on his ability level at this point. The Avs have been hamstrung for 2 plus years now dealing away picks and assets at the trade deadline cause they cannot move forward with long term solutions while carving out… Read more »
Perfectly said!
It’s a mystery but for now one that I don’t expect any news on until Jan/Feb at the earliest. The reality is with him on LTIR the $$$ is spent on other players.
A lot of people in here need to take a breath. It’s been a frustrating start to the season. But the sky isn’t falling. If the Avs had gotten even standard/average NHL goaltending for the majority of this season they’d be in a much better position. As it stands now they’re still ok. It’s worth being concerned that maybe the injuries aren’t going to let up. Hopefully as the season progresses & things ramp up they get & stay relatively healthy. I know everyone has been dumping on Manson this year. But hopefully he’s not out for a large chunk… Read more »
Ha well, Annunen just got dealt so the brass apparently wanted to try something.
If we’re being honest, MacKinnon consistently gives the puck away in the offensive zone as well as losing his man in the defensive zone? You can blame bednar all you want but the Avalanche are very casual with the puck, give it up very easily and other teams are well aware of it!!!
Aarif, you end every podcast with a comment about making hockey for everyone, yet you refuse to moderate your own board and keep out hateful posts.
Mack is league top 3 in points and +2 in +/-. We all know +/- is not the best analytical stat and +2 is not high for a top 10 player (Makar currently-1) but given the goaltending early this season thats not a big surprise. I’d really like to know what the whole “bring in Kahkonen and then wave him” thing was about. Did he look like a huge mistake to anybody else? I’d really have liked to see him in a few more games especially the way Annunen seems to not be taking the next step and is probably… Read more »
Good analysis.
The Avs are playing catch with the goalies recently. Nice, right in the mitt shots. Not much movement required by the goalie as it’s right where you want it – – if you were playing first base. Mac is trying to tie or beat the record for crossbar and post shots. The PK? Abysmal again. Back to the old sh!t box and passive PK. Constantly losing your man in front of the net. Is this chronic or terminal?
The lack of D play by Mac is just unacceptable at this point. It just bleeds down thru the entire lineup. That being said we are still playing with two full lines of ahlers. Has anyone in bottom six done anything this year?
24 games into the season and the Avalanche look fantastic. First, Bednar coaching has the team playing complete team-first hockey. The defense has been impressive, and the offense has been lights out. The powerplay has been very powerful. The penalty kill has been impressive. The Avs physicality is tops in the league, every player forechecks and none cherry-pick. Incredible! The league’s top-paid player has been amazing too. Incredible puck control, incredible defense, and the goal production is off the charts. Top-paid is a phenomenal player and should be paid more in my opinion! Goodly, the leadership of aforementioned top paid player is so contagious everyone is clicking. Everyone is… Read more »