Breaking Down: Avs/Sens, Game 15
The Avs got a tying goal from Nathan MacKinnon in the 3rd period and held on to score a point. To be charitable, they might not have deserved one. Despite being buried nearly 2-to-1 in most shot metrics all night and a pretty pedestrian game from Varly, not winning came down to a terrible change on the fly in overtime.
Shot Metrics
This was an ugly game on the stat sheet. 19 SOG total and only 8 in the final 40 minutes plus OT. The upside here is that they shot 25% on those 8 SOG. Efficient. The second period was particularly alarming with shot attempts at +9/-25 at 5v5. Actually, outside of the 2nd the Avs were ok at +33/-35 but getting smoked like that especially when down a goal most of the time is a continuing issue. The 2nd period against Philadelphia started much the same way, they just seemed unprepared for the opponent to come flying out of intermission and got buried. Overall the team ended at 41% CF, 33% shots for and 35% scoring chances for.
Individually, JT Compher struggled badly all night ending up low man on the team at +8/-23 (26% CF) and his linemates Nieto and Comeau weren’t far behind. Comphs looked to be uncomfortable with the cast on his right hand, it’s just something he’s going to need to figure out. Chris Bigras was low man for the D at +9/-19 in 10 minutes 5v5.
The warp speed duo of Samuel Girard and Tyson Barrie were the best D’s at around 45% and if this is a glimpse in to the future we’re going to love Girard. A lot. Defying the eye test, Rocco Grimaldi (53%) & Gabe Bourque (57%) were the high men on the team and the only ones to be on the good side of 50%.
Time on Ice
Erik Johnson crossed the 30 minute barrier thanks to OT and played 23 minutes at evens. Samuel Girard was 3rd on the team 5v5 at 19:13 and overall at 21:55. Yes, he’s still 19 years old. I was skeptical at first whether he would stick past 9 games but he’s not going anywhere playing like he did yesterday and the staff seems to agree.
The MacKinnon line led forwards at usual with 17 minutes at 5v5, the Compher line was 2nd by time and Kerfoot’s slotted in 3rd. The mismatched and centerless 4th lagged appropriately.
Now we get to the curious case of Nikita Zadorov. Z played regular shifts in both the 1st & 2nd periods, 17 total for 8:28 at even strength and 1:52 on PK. Then for some reason he dropped off in the 3rd getting only 4 shifts for a total of 2:45. The last shift was nearly a minute so maybe something there the coaches really didn’t like, but that was late in the game, ending with about 3 minutes to go. Bottom line, he didn’t play much in the 3rd and will be scratched for Miro today. All I can say is it’s weird.
Burgundy Narrative Metric
– “Best guys being your best guys” gets an (even) Too many mediocre performances
– Corsi gets a (-) thanks to getting smoked in the 2nd, again
– Power Play gets a (+) a goal in 2 tries, not bad
– Turtle gets a slight (-) because they appeared to be playing for the tie late in P3
– Varly% gets a (-) not one of his best shows this year
– Referee Oppression Index gets an (even)
Total: -1½
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The good guys are back in action in a few hours to complete the Global Series
