Good & Bad
Postgame Wrap: Avalanche Sleepwalk Through 5-2 Loss in Ottawa
It was a no-show for the Avalanche on Wednesday, as they sleepwalked through a 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre.
Colorado lost 5-2 after giving up two empty netters, posting just 17 shots on goal and eight through the first two periods. The Avs fell to 35-7-9 on the season as they continue to limp into the Olympic break. They are 2-3-2 in their last seven games.
Parker Kelly and Valeri Nichushkin scored for the Avs, while Mackenzie Blackwood made 18 saves. The Avalanche didn’t get a power play all night but were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. They looked uninspired, lacked urgency, and the offense was mostly nonexistent.
And they’ll have less than 24 hours to bounceback in Montreal.
The scoring started early in the second period. Forward Nick Cousins got behind the Avs defense, received a pass from Artem Zub and beat Blackwood to make it 1-0 at 3:21. By the time it was halfway through the game, the Avalanche had just five shots on goal and not much going for them.
But suddenly, it was Kelly who found the back of the net. His 11th of the season, at 14:05, knotted things up at 1-1. It gave the Avs life, and an opportunity to erase a poor start. But it took just 17 seconds for the Senators to respond.
Tyler Kleven shot the puck in off the end boards and Ridley Greig got behind Keaton Middleton to beat him to the loose puck. He fired it past Blackwood to make it 2-1. The Senators carried that lead into the third and Claude Giroux scored at 2:06 to make it 3-1. The Avalanche answered back at 3:30 to pull within a goal. Nichushkin’s 12th of the season beat goalie James Reimer on the backhand.
Ottawa got empty-net goals from Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle.
Bad: No Power Plays? Hard to Believe
The Avalanche didn’t do much to earn power plays. There’s no denying that. But they should’ve had at least one, if not two, with some of the plays that the Sens were making. And on top of the calls they were getting whistled for.
There was one play where Tkachuk hit Sam Malinski with what looked like an elbow making contact up high. The referees didn’t call a penalty.
Good: Sens Played No-Event Hockey
For Ottawa, this was the only way you were going to beat the Avs. In Denver, the Avalanche scored eight goals and were all over the Senators. Ottawa found a way to play a low-event hockey game, keeping Reimer from facing much, if any, high-danger opportunities.
The Senators have struggled with goaltending all year. But you don’t have to worry about goaltending when you’re giving up eight shots in two periods, and 17 in a full 60-minute game against the Avs.
Blackie was awful. Most of the team was. MacK cycling to Girard in the corner for a guaranteed turnover. Necas shooting from as far as possible to start a set up with the extra attacker. Letting men constantly get behind you. Middleton lol. I love Brindley but maybe he is just too small or needs to play smarter quickly. Taylor Makar with rookie mistakes.
Cale had some nice offense. Nuke looked better. We won a lot of FOs but really no redeeming observations. We got crushed by a .500 team.
Meanwhile, Soucy looked great for the Isles.
This one sucked. I don’t disagree with anything you said other than I didn’t think Blackwood was bad at all. He was the least of their problems. I said it the other day, the warts are starting to show. I’m really going back & forth on what they need more a 3C to anchor the bottom 6. Or another top 4 caliber D. Or maybe just another defenseman?? I was informed earlier today that the Avs don’t have a top 4, just a top 2! Anyway… Burns & Manson 1000% can not be a pairing come April. Good god there… Read more »
Yes, “Slowfoot” shat the bed. I’ve never seen a full ice rink pass where a player got past the defensemen so quick. I was yearning for Ahcan at that point. Why didn’t they play Solovyov? Oh yeah, they traded him. Let’s face it, Ottawa wanted it more. They made great shots. They gave much more of an effort. Our stars weren’t stars tonight. Makar is playing patty cake with the goalie on his shots. The other Makar rivals Middleton in how he lumbers around. I mean he looks like he’s giving no effort at all. Maybe some uppers will make… Read more »
I agree, I don’t get the Taylor Makar thing. The most noticeable thing I’ve seen him do to this point is take a penalty. I see no skill there that will make him a viable NHL player. If the Avs get bounced in the 1st or 2nd round again. I honestly have no clue what happens with Bednar or CMac. If I were in charge I would definitely can Bednar. And as much of a critic I’ve been of CMac. I don’t know if firing him at this juncture would help. The core of this roster is locked in. They’re… Read more »
With CMac, I can’t excuse the trading of Solovyov at this juncture. Unless he pulls off a major “D” stud acquisition then trading nothing (cost wise) for an obscure draft choice that is guaranteed to be nothing (based on the history of fine Avs player development) is about as dumb as it gets. Ahcan isn’t a viable option. Middleton is a joke who has gotten slower with his advancing age, if that’s possible. The “D” core is aging. Solovyov was a serviceable, younger option who could have developed into a nice reserve player. Left handed, too. You can’t keep making… Read more »
There’s no bigger CMac hater than me. And honestly the success of the Nelson acquisition to this point this season has partially redeemed him. Because when you look at the totality of moves he’s made as GM. It’s been pretty bad. Almost none have worked. That goes for trades & major UFA signings. He took over the GM role where the entire core of the roster was already intact (Mack, Cale, Mikko, Toews, Landy, Nuke, Lehky). He’s the only GM in sports I ever seen get more credit from the fanbase for the moves made when he was AGM. Than… Read more »
CMac has had some major whiffs with Ryan Johansen and milk toast Casey Mittelstadt. I think the Avs would be better off with Rants but that situation escalated quickly and I can understand CMac’s reluctance to deal with an agent who was hell bound on taking his client to free agency. He redeemed himself with the Wood squared goalie tandem acquisitions which I believe is his best move as a GM to date. Care to think what the Avs record would be without them? The Nelson trade is working out but the seemingly minor dumping of Solovyov made no sense… Read more »
I never give him a ton of credit for the goalie moves, because they were such obvious moves. At least the Blackwood move was. It was so idiotic that he went a whole off-season without altering the Georgiev/Annunen tandem. He cost them so many pts last year prior to Christmas, because he rolled the dice on those two again. I get the frustration with the Solovyov move. Why was it so vital to get a 7th & a midget AHL forward. When currently you could use Solovyov in your lineup?? I guess he’s made enough head scrathers as GM that… Read more »
Burns and Manson cannot be a pairing come April – agreed. Unless you want uncontested Nick Cousins breakaways.
Changing the pairing will not change the skill set of either.
Unfortunately, the Avs have likely made their bed with those two.
It was a terrible game but blackwood was far from awful.. He made a bunch of incredible saves that kept it to 3 goals. The team just left him out to dry tbh. Our blueline rn is god awful.
And all great shots that were scored on him. As opposed to the rifle it in the goalie’s chest shots the Avs made.
Blame cmac and bednar.
Cmac for trading solovyov with no plan.
Bednar playing olofsson on 1st line and not adapting at all.
It looks like the guys playing in the Olympics are already there.
Heyyyyoooooo
Sleepwak is right, jeeesh. It makes sense that they’d coast into the Olympics with their injuries and the points lead they’ve built up, but man are these kind of games hard to watch.
This was a game where we really missed Landeskog and Toews for various reasons. That said, I didn’t really feel the Avs did anything specifically bad in this game. The Sens had a great gameplan and executed it to near perfection – and when they weren’t absolutely perfect, the Avs put the puck in the net, as both goals were scored off of forced turnovers. The Sens also got away with quite a bit – the Tkachuk dirty hit on Malinski should have been any of roughing, interference, or elbowing. There should have also been a cross-checking penalty on Giroux,… Read more »
“I didn’t really feel the Avs did anything specifically bad in this game.”
Oi. Yeahhh sure thing there rosy red. It showed again tonight against the Habs.
Deen’s Daily had the following quote: “The Avalanche had arguably their worst performance of the season on Wednesday.” That is a phrase that seems to have been said multiple times this month. So much for getting back on track! Every good game is followed by another stinker. The Avs look disinterested and slow. Burns looked all of 40 years old last night. Slow and too many bad passes and clears. The team was also outmuscled all night. Seeing Brindley smashed against the boards over and over exemplified how the Avs were routinely outmuscled. Losing puck battles against a bigger more… Read more »
This loss wasn’t as bad as everyone wants to make it out to be, it was just meant to be. The Avs punched the Sens in the mouth in their last meeting (and quite frankly, spanked them in many of their last meetings), and the Sens had been stewing on it ever since. You could tell from the first puck drop that the Sens were simply the hungrier team. And if it weren’t for the worst goaltending in the league, they wouldn’t be a 0.500 team. I’m going to look at the positives (if there were any). Just after Nuke… Read more »
Ah ha. How about the beat down from the Habs tonight? Move the needle for ya mate? ::facepalm::
definitely a cause for concern, but Wedgewood owned his mistakes in net. i’ll still take the Avs over most teams on any given night. time will tell.