The pre-game hype about the Avs proving they belonged with the league’s elite was cringe-worthy and the narrative was dismissed so quickly that it made for some tough viewing. A few weeks ago the Avs played the Bolts tough at home and lost 1-0. Tampa learned a lot from that game but Colorado evidently did not and that’s one big difference between where they are and where they want to be.
Projectile Lineup
Sven Andrighetto returned to the lineup in place of Gabe Bourque. Not sure what the thinking is behind swapping Kerfoot and Compher back and forth between the 2nd and 4th lines but some consistency there would be nice. Varly got the start after a night off vs Florida.
Scratch: Bourque, Alt
Injured: Barbs (UBI)
Team Stats
The Lightning declared right away that they would be controlling the game and any mistakes would be punished severely. An early stick penalty led to a goal 37 seconds into the PK. Failure to clear the puck led to another. The Avs answered that one but it would be the sum total of their offense for the night. More mistakes and the Bolts led 3-1 at 1st inters. The 2nd was horrifying, it began with 10 minutes of total domination, a 15-5 shot run and another 3 goals. Game over.
Tale of the tape was +45/-50 but that sounds a lot closer than it was. In the first 30 minutes it was more like +15/-32 then score effects took over. Game pace was 113 shots per hour with Tampa doing most of the shooting in the first half and the Avs in the second.
Power play was not powerful going 0 for 2 and the PK was terrible stopping only 1 out of 3 chances.
TOI
Top 6 forwards at 5v5 were Mack, Jost , Mikko, Landy, Compher, Carl and in all situations it was Mack, Mikko, Landy, Carl, Compher, Jost. Vlad Kamenev was low man but he was injured halfway through the game. Calvert was the low man of those that remained.
The defensive regime went Cole, Girard, Barrie, EJ, Nemeth, Z at 5v5 and in all situations.
Individual
This isn’t a great game to single anyone out for anything but Ian Cole was especially awful again last night. He was on the ice for every goal against except for the Lightning’s 5th of the evening. This is eerily similar to the show he put on in Pittsburgh, where he was on ice for all but the Pens 3rd out of 6. The Avs gave up 15 goals on this 4-game road trip and he was on the ice for 11 of them. His usual partner, Tyson Barrie, was on ice for 7. Nemeth and EJ caught the minus for 4 each, Big Z for 3 and Sam Girard just one.
I’ve enjoyed Cole’s play for the most part this season but we’re getting to the point where where he’s overplayed by quite a bit and getting far more trust from the staff than he deserves. He is not a #1 defenseman, you don’t pick those up in free agency for $4.25M a year, and should not be used as such. They seem to have found his practical limit of effectiveness, now it’s time to dial it back so we don’t get blowout losses every other game.
Burgundy Narrative Metric
– “Best guys being your best guys” gets a (-)
– Quality vs Quantity gets a (-)
– Power Play Watchability gets a (-)
– The Dreaded Turtle gets a (-)
– Starting Goalie Battle% gets a (-)
– Referee Oppression Index gets a (-)
Total: -69¾
Next up
Yet another 1-game homestand vs the Oilers on Tuesday night
Thanks as always to the NHL and Natural Stat Trick for numbers and visuals