The Avs got another quick lead last night but this time it didn’t pay off. The coaching staff grew increasingly risk-averse and conservative as the night wore on and ended up giving away 2 points to the Flames while gaining only one for themselves. Some obvious lessons to be learned from this game, hopefully they examine the process and take it as a case of what not to do in the future.
Projectile Lineup
Sven Andrighetto skated in a regular jersey yesterday morning and could be available on the coming road trip. Sheldon Dries was assigned to the Eagles on Friday and played both games in San Antonio this weekend.
Scratch: Barbs
Injured: Andrighetto (LBI)
Team Stats
A two goal lead 3 minutes into a game can be a dangerous thing. The first period was more even than it looked with the Avs advantage coming from some high-quality chances. The 2nd period started out fine until a power play 5 minutes in. After failing to bury the dagger there was a massive letdown from there until another PP 7 minutes into the 3rd period. The Flames had 30 shot attempts in that 20 minute stretch while the Avs could only manage 3. In the final 10 minutes of the game the Avs came up with only 1 shot attempt. It was horrifying. The endgame with Calgary scoring less than two minutes to go and again in OT was as predictable as it was disappointing.
Tale of the tape was a +31/-55 and SOG were 41-26 for the Flames. This is after a 1st period where the Avs went +20/-15 and had a 17-10 SOG advantage. Colorado has struggled to create high-danger chances so far but they had 7 in P1, which is nice, but zero afterwards.
Power play was 0-3 but looked a lot better than it has. Coach Ray Bennett has been making some pretty cool adjustments so that’s promising even if it didn’t pay off here. The penalty kill was 4-4 and has only allowed one goal this season so that’s clicking.
TOI
Top 6 forwards were Landy, Mack, Mikko, Carl, Calvert and Nieto at 5v5 and in all situations it was Mack, Landy, Mikko, a huge 4 minute gap to Soderberg then Calvert & Nieto. None of the bottom 6 forwards reached 10 minutes at 5v5 and that’s troubling. Vlad Kamenev was low man at just under 8 minutes.
The defensive regime went Sam, EJ, Cole, Barrie, Nemeth, Big Z at 5v5 and EJ, Barrie, Nemeth, Sam, Cole, Z overall.
In the final 10 minutes Girard, Kerfoot and Jost got one shift each while Kamenev and Compher went missing completely. So much for #youngerfaster.
Individual
– Mikko keeps feeding Mack and they both are off to a strong start. For a goof I’d like to see Mack start picking up an assist here and there and Mikko get one past the goalie.
– JT Compher has had a sneaky good start to the year with 3 goals and an assist. No idea why he was benched at the end of the game, would have been the perfect guy to have out there.
– Tyson Barrie and Ian Cole are really struggling together. We always say that being TB4’s partner is the toughest job in hockey and Cole just hasn’t figured it out yet. That’s not to say he’s been bad in general, he hasn’t, but this isn’t working. They generate very little offense 5v5 and seem to be an open invitation to shower the Avs goalies with shots.
The two right-hand columns are shots for and shots against per hour. Not good. The staff probably don’t want to mess with the pairs much but Z and Barrie were terrific together and both are trash so far this year. That would mean putting Cole and Nemo together on the 3rd pair which sounds like an expensive way to never leave your own zone but something has to change.
– Now we come to the elephant in the room, the Soderberg line. They have been not just bad but incredibly bad every game so far. Whether you call them the 2nd line of the 3rd doesn’t matter. They are dreadfully overplayed and can’t get it done. Teams are just licking their chops when they see a line like this out there and can’t get skilled players out there fast enough.
The last 3 right-hand columns are attempts for/against per hour and CF%. They are the worst on the team by a mile. Carl Soderberg is the 2nd best center on the team, he’s talented offensively and can be a solid shot suppressor when given proper linemates. 4th liners with limited puck skills are not proper linemates. I feel like I’ve written this a hundred times this Fall but when Carl is successful it’s because he’s playing a heavy cycle game in the offensive zone and Bourque and Nieto can’t do that. That relegates them to getting smoked in the d-zone because they can’t exit. It becomes an endless succession of weak clears, missed passes and turnovers like we saw on the game-tying goal last night by Nieto. I don’t blame him half as much as I blame the staff for having him out there.
Burgundy Narrative Metric
– “Best guys being your best guys” gets a (-) The staff needs to figure out who’s who
– Quality vs Quantity gets a (-) first period had both, the rest had neither
– Power Play Watchability gets a (0) A light at the end of tunnel perhaps but no result
– The Dreaded Turtle gets a (-) Unprecedented level of turtality last night
– Starting Goalie Battle% gets a (+) Varly was amazing despite getting hung out all night
– Referee Oppression Index gets a (+) Didn’t like some of the calls, Mack didn’t like his holding call for sure but all in all it was a properly managed game.
Total: -2½
Next up
A four game road trip starting in Gotham on Tuesday
Thanks as always to the NHL and Natural Stat Trick for numbers and visuals