Evan Rawal
In the Turning Point, we’ll take a look at one moment in the previous Colorado Avalanche game that changed the momentum of the game.
Am I a huge fan of Sam Girard and Bowen Byram together? Not really. They’re two very talented defensemen that are better apart, in my opinion.
But there’s no denying they looked dynamite together on Monday night…
Girard Steps Up
Sam Girard starts the whole play with a great read in the neutral zone, stepping up and picking off the pass. That starts everything back the other way, and when he has nothing to work with, he sends it down low for the grinders to get to work.
Intentional Shot Wide?
The Ducks aren’t able to clear, and it comes to Helm covering at the point. He heads to center point, then passes it off to Girard.
On the opposite side, you can see Byram wanting the pass, then sprints towards the net. I am 95% sure Girard is just shooting wide here to get the bounce pass to Byram. It works, and Byram recovers it.
He jumps back out high and feeds it off to Girard again. This time, Girard definitely is looking for the net, as he waits for some traffic to set up in front of Gibson. It does, and Gibson is unable to hold onto the wrister from the point, which ends up being a crucial part of the play.
Byram Does The Rest
From there, the Ducks send it around, but Byram corrals it perfectly on his backhand. Not an easy play for anyone to make under pressure. He looks to create a lane, but when he cuts to the middle, there’s no one from the Avalanche in front, so he holds onto it. His dynamite skating comes into play as he spins back, then pulls up (look how much ice he kicks up) and decides to let a wrister go because O’Connor has now set up in front.
The screen works, and the Avalanche tie the game up. From there, the Avalanche never looked back. One simple read in the neutral zone started it all.