They were enormously ahead in shots and zone time in the Stars zone, Nathan MacKinnon and co. put the team up 2-0, everything was looking fantastic. Then all of an abrupt in the 2nd period, the Stars pounded the front of the net with chances and their bodies and the Avs just collapsed under them. And then once the lead was gone, the Avs pushed and they got scored on once again.
NaturalStatTrick.com
Pavel Francouz stopped 22 of 26 in the loss, he wasnt the issue tonight. As soon as you re-watch the 2nd, third, and 4th goals, youll see how a total absence of protection, luck, and protective obligation totally left the Czech entirely on his own.
First Period
This was an unsightly loss, and it put the Colorado Avalanche down 0-2 in their second round series with the Dallas Stars. Destiny took Game 2 by a rating of 5-2 off the back of 4 objectives from high danger locations and an empty net objective to seal the deal.
1-0
After One
The Avalanche power play was dynamite right out of the box when they got their very first possibility of the game six minutes in. The Avs recovered control well on the left side and Cale Makar got the puck back to Rantanen, who fed MacKinnon a sweet flip pass over Blake Comeau for a one-timer.
Mikko and Mac linked again on the power play later in the period. Its unbelievable how the 4 others Avs on the ice were able to make MacKinnon unnoticeable on that play. Rantanan with the puck is extremely harmful and as a supplier, shooter, and pushing the puck to the internet so the Stars needed to cover all three passes (resetting to Makar, establishing Kadris shot, and working low with Landeskog) along with his shot, all leaving MacKinnon entirely on his own. Im sure destiny thought they had the cross-ice pass covered, but Rantanen had other concepts.
And the most fundamental part– a lead!
Shots on objective after 20 minutes:
Nathan MacKinnon: 7Stars: 6
Rest of #Avs: 12– Aarif Deen (@runwriteAarif) August 25, 2020
Oh, and in all situations …
MacKinnon had an excellent duration, but more importantly he made everybody around him better. Landeskog led the group in individual anticipated objectives, Rantanen and Kadri blazed a trail with three shot attempts each, and the MacKinnon was 7-0 in shot attempts on the ice. All of these stats were at 5v5 in just the very first duration.
Like Omar showed, the Avs had a fantastic very first period on the power play and at even strength. The Avs were ahead in shot attempts at 5v5 (20-8), 4v4 (6-1), and they had six shot efforts on their three power plays and didnt provide up a shot on Dallas single power play.
Second Period
2-0
Joe Pavelski “slashed” MacKinnon in the … uhh … groinal location, providing the Avalanche a power play. Rantanen made Pavelski and destiny pay quite quickly. Primary assist to MacKinnon.
2-1
Destiny got one back with Sam Girard in package after he got scheduled for a slash on Jason Dickinson during a scrum. Due to the fact that Ian Cole took a charge on the 5-on-4, the Avs were down 2 guys. On cue, it was Pavelski that scored the goal from in front of the net. Alexander Radulov fed Pavelski a pass across the crease for a one-timer Francouz had no possibility against.
2-2
With Cole still in the box, the Stars connected the game. Nikita Zadorov acts like a big difficult man when he can hit men into the boards, however he looked quite damn ineffective on his ass as Corey Perry and Radek Faksa got three shots in the blue paint on Francouz before he finally could not stop the last rebound by Faksa. The Stars do not believe so.
2-3
It didnt get better as Kadri got struck in the side of the knee from some friendly fire from Makar. He didnt make it on the ice for a power play the Avs came up to the end, Tyson Jost replaced him in the bumper slot.
Voodoo objective to put destiny ahead, naturally. Jamie Benn centred the puck to Radulov, however the puck bounced off Girards stick, up the chest of Radulov, and spun like a disc over Francouz and into the net.
So, that was 6 minutes.
2-4
Its main, the Stars opened a workplace in the Avs blue paint incorporated. With impunity, Esa Lindell had the ability to tip a shot in front of the web, grab his own rebound, and slap it in through Francouz without anybody troubling to get him out of the way. Francouz was literally pressed in the web like it was absolutely nothing. The Avs required an evaluation on the objective, not claiming goalie disturbance, but whether the puck crossed the line or not. It was called a legal objective (” good objective” is a worthless term).
By the shots, the Avs were still up at 5v5 (12-10), however destiny got 9 shot attempts in 3 and a half minutes on the power play. The Stars transformed twice on a. 93 expected objectives on the power play (suggesting the sum of their 9 possibilities amounted to a 93% possibility of an objective, and they got two objectives out of it).
I dont know if depth scoring will be a problem after this game, the middle six beyond Kadri struggled a lot– Valeri Nichushkin, Joonas Donskoi, and Andre Burakovsky were all deeply unfavorable in anticipated goals after two– but I stress the teams defensive dedication has subsided a lot. The front of the internet was simply way too easy to get to long before the two power plays that got destiny back in the video game. After destiny scored their 3 objectives, the Avs truly looked lifeless, which I dont believe Ive seen before in these playoffs.
JT Compher had a possibility in tight as the final buzzer for the duration went, but even with an excellent relocate to shoot and spin on his forehand he couldnt beat Khudobin.
After Two
Oh, and:
3rd Period
I do not understand what to say about the third other than destiny played their generally smothering defense and the Avs could not manage more than 6 shots until the final 4 minutes of the duration. The Stars only took 2 shots themselves however they didnt technically need to take any to win the game, as long as the Avs didnt score.
The Avs were kept to the outdoors and could just handle shots from bad angles even in the last four minutes. With 3 minutes left, the Avs got a power play (Comeau in the box) and pulled Francouz for a two-man advantage. Even with two extra players, the Avs couldnt touch the middle of the ice. The best opportunity they got was a Kadri idea in the high slot and a MacKinnon shot from the best faceoff dot. Girard was their sixth person and he was just at the top of the zone with Rantanen and Makar, I dont understand why they didnt try somebody like Namestnikov or Nichushkin or Burakovsky to help play in front of the net and produce some area.
2-5 (ENG).
Takeaways.
Then all of a sudden in the 2nd period, the Stars mauled the front of the web with possibilities and their bodies and the Avs just collapsed under them. The Stars got one back with Sam Girard in the box after he got reserved for a slash on Jason Dickinson throughout a scrum. Its official, the Stars opened an office in the Avs blue paint integrated. The front of the web was just way too simple to get to long before the two power plays that got the Stars back in the game. After the Stars scored their 3 objectives, the Avs genuinely looked lifeless, which I do not think Ive seen prior to in these playoffs.
Unfortunately, destiny scored in the empty net. Girard tried to stop the puck before it crossed the line but he could not rather get there in time. Ballgame.
I think the chickens are coming house to roost for half the Avs defense corps. You know my ideas on Nikita Zadorov, he looked hopeless without Erik Johnson next to him. When you take him away from Makars crazy puck moving and resulting corsi numbers, same goes for Ryan Graves. And I know its not mostly his job, however Sam Girard is actually bad in his own zone and when protective sitters arent there around him, he looks truly exposed.
Video game 3 is Wednesday at 8:30 pm MT.
I think its good that Connauton seemed unnoticeable in this game, but it may be since he only played 10:31 minutes, 8 seconds less than the hurt EJ played in Game 1. Perhaps this was an outlier bad video game for these guys on the back end, but regrettably, we may only get two more opportunities to check that theory.
