Aarif Deen
The Colorado Avalanche’s memorable season has come to a disastrous, crashing halt in the Western Conference Final.
And it was the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights
Vegas scored early in the first period of Game 4 on Tuesday and carried a lead all the way to the final buzzer, defeating Colorado 2-1 at T-Mobile Arena to hand the Avs their first series sweep loss in 18 years. Carter Hart made 20 saves for the Golden Knights.
“Right now, it’s heartbreak, disappointment, frustration, a lot of different things,” star defenseman Cale Makar said. “I mean the group, I don’t think there was any quit in the group. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. We ran into a good team, a good goalie. We weren’t able to get it done. It sucks.
Meanwhile, the Avalanche turned to Mackenzie Blackwood in goal, and he stopped 24-of-26 in the losing effort. It was just his third start in 13 playoff games and first of the series.
It’s freaking hard not to play for so long and come into a big game,” Blackwood said. “But you know, I just said f**k it and go play the best I can and give them the best chance to win and just battle.”
The Avs didn’t score for almost five consecutive periods before getting one late in regulation from Gabe Landeskog after falling behind by two goals. They finished the series with just seven.
“You look back at the four games, there are definitely times where we found our game,” Landeskog said. “I think the problem was we found ways to lose hockey games.”
Mark Stone got the scoring started for the Golden Knights, and it came earlier than any other Vegas goal in this series. Colorado’s top pair of Cale Makar and Devon Toews both pinched offensively, leaving them slightly behind the play as Brayden McNabb sent a chip pass through the neutral zone to Stone. He caught the puck just as he entered the zone, put it down to his stick, and dangled in the crease to beat Blackwood at the 4:42 mark. It was just their second shot of the night.
Blackwood, to his credit, locked in after that. The Knights had seven more shots in the first but were unable to extend their lead. They added 11 more in the second, including two golden opportunities on the power play that Blackwood absolutely robbed. Both times, it was the highest scorer in the postseason, Pavel Dorofeyev, who took the shot.
Blackwood didn’t get much help in the first 40 minutes. Colorado’s two best chances came off the stick of Brock Nelson, but Carter Hart stopped him both times. At the second intermission, the Avs had a low 14 shots and trailed 1-0. At that point, they hadn’t scored in four consecutive periods.
Part of that could be a result of several missed calls. On the sequence that led to the Vegas power play, Nathan MacKinnon was tripped up in the offensive zone. The officials didn’t call anything, and then moments later, Landeskog was called for cross-checking on what seemingly looked like a penalty he took along the boards out of frustration.
Rather than the Avalanche getting a chance on the power play, it was the Knights who got to snap it around in the offensive zone. But Blackwood’s strong play ensured it didn’t put them behind by two.
The officials also missed a too-many-men on the Knights, which sent Colorado’s bench into a frenzy, with several players banging their sticks to get the referee’s attention.
Both of these misses came after Tomas Hertl stuck his backside out to catch Martin Necas with an open-ice hit that should’ve been called for interference. Necas left the game momentarily before returning. The officials huddled but opted against a penalty.
Colorado was 0-for-1 on the power play.
With their backs against the wall, and 20 minutes remaining in their season, the Avs just didn’t have any fight left. Vegas added an insurance marker from Cole Smith with less than six minutes remaining. At the time of his goal, Colorado had just three third-period shots. He scored on the sixth Knights shot of the frame.
The Avs eventually pulled the goalie and Landeskog scored with 2:03 remaining. They tried to do it again, but were unsuccessful. Their season ended with a loss on the road for the second consecutive year.
Bad: Disconnected Start
It took until sometime early in the second period for the Avalanche to find some consistency in their game — even if it still wasn’t to their standard. Before that, things were absolutely disconnected on all levels.
The Avs needed to come out strong to get a hold of this game and their season. Instead, they were the ones weathering an early Vegas storm. They were the ones defending, on their heels, and relying on a strong goaltender to keep them in the game.
The only goal Blackwood gave up in that time was a breakaway. You can’t entirely pin that on him. But you could argue that better decisions in those first five minutes of the first period would’ve kept this game scoreless through two periods. Instead, Colorado had to chase in the second and again in the third with their season on the line.
The series was lost when they couldn’t hang onto leads in Game 2 or Game 3. But that doesn’t erase the fact that you still don’t want to be the one chasing, especially because of your own doing.
Good: Blackwood Steps In, Plays Well
You have to credit Blackwood for coming in and playing well. For all the great things the Avalanche did this season, for all the wins they compiled, strong seasons individual players had, and all the positive vibes around them, it was a tough year for Blackwood.
He started the season on the shelf. When he finally returned, he was splitting starting duties with Scott Wedgewood, given the impressive start his backup had in October. Blackwood ended up finding a rhythm for several weeks, but that’s as long as it lasted.
After the Olympic break, Wedgewood became the guy while Blackwood fought another minor injury and couldn’t consistently find that groove, or get enough games to get there.
Against the Knights, in an elimination game of a series that he didn’t play a part in, Blackwood was tasked with coming in to make saves in an attempt to try to save Colorado’s season. He held his own and deserves credit for that.
Both goalies are locked into a contract for next season. Regardless of what changes the Avalanche make elsewhere, you’ve got to imagine Blackwood is going to be locked in this summer to be the guy that begins the year as the starter on opening night.