Breaking Down: Avs/Hawks, Game #76

The Avs sat on a tie for over 18 minutes and came away with a point to make it 3 over the weekend vs Chicago. Ugly, but can’t argue with the result.

Projectile Lineup

AJ Greer was recalled from the Eagles after their game Saturday night. Who knows if he made it to Chicago or not, he definitely didn’t play. No lineup changes including leaving Grubi in for the full b2b.

Scratch: Mikko (UBI), Landy (shoulder), Nieto (LBI), Barbs (LBI)
Injured: Kamenev (shoulder)

Team Stats

The Avs played ok in stretches but generally let the Hawks dictate play all night. Their offensive output consisted of one goal at 5v3. The Hawks tied it early in the 3rd and Colorado played 5-man PK the rest of regulation, only attempting 5 shots the rest of the way. OT was the usual mistake and outcome.

Tale of the tape at 5v5 was +37/-61 and shots in all situations favored Chicago 42-20. Shot pace at 5v5 was 114 per hour, oddly enough the same as in game 1.

The power play once again scored at 5v3, their 2nd in two nights as well as 2nd of the season, and had a good showing in the first. The PK killed one of two chances.

TOI

Top 6 forwards were Mack (23:56), Compher, Kerfoot, Carl, Wilson and Calvert (17:34). Aggz was low man at 6:50.

The defensive regime went Girard (22), EJ (21+), Barrie (19+), Cole (18+), Nemeth (16), Big Z (15+) and Graves (4).

Individual

Chicago had more on the line and looked like it. The Avs had some jump at times but calling it a day after letting in the tying goal is a terrible mentality to have. Some of that was player usage but the staff didn’t go all in with the PK crew like they did in Dallas. Mostly it was trying to play it safe, which ended up playing right into Chicago’s hands because they were right there to turn the puck over or reload. If playing it safe is the goal then don’t turn the puck over constantly and make sure clearing attempts get all the way out of the defensive zone.

The good news is that the Hawks are all but done now. It’s really down to Colorado, Arizona and Minnesota with Dallas in play for the 1st wild card spot as well. Right now this is how it looks:

Chicago and Arizona play each other next on Tuesday, root for the Hawks there and the Avs will have a cushion going into the big AZ/COL game on Friday.

Minnesota plays Nashville tomorrow, a loss there and the Avs can breathe a little easier.

The Avs can rest tomorrow and get a solid practice in Tuesday before a really tough matchup with Vegas on Wednesday. The Knights are on a roll but have little to play for. They’re pretty much locked into a 1st round series with San Jose as the road team.

Burgundy Narrative Metric

– “Best guys being your best guys” gets a (-) nope
– Quality vs Quantity gets a (-) zilch
– Power Play Watchability gets a (+) they did ok against the worst PK in the NHL
– The Dreaded Turtle gets a (-) yikes, that’s twice in 3 games now
– Starting Goalie Battle% gets a (+) got the point singlehandedly
– Referee Oppression Index gets a (+) They did fine

Total: -4¾

Next up

A couple days off then Vegas on Wednesday night

Thanks as always to the NHL and Natural Stat Trick for numbers and visuals