Breaking Down: Avs/Ducks, Game #11
Plenty of built in excuses for why this one went pear-shaped in a hurry, back-to-back, first home game after a long road trip, no Mikko, et cetera. The Avs weren’t really off by a lot but it was too much to overcome the Ducks grindy style that is turning out to be their kryptonite so far this season. It’s also a little ironic that the power play was one of the few things that did work, occasionally, last night.
Projectile Lineup
Other than the goalie switch there weren’t any lineup changes from Friday’s game. I doubt dressing Kamenev for Nichushkin would have made the difference but at least he could have gotten some reps and confidence perhaps.
attack
Landy – Mack – Compher
Burky – Kadri – Donskoi
Willie – Jost – Nichushkin
Calvert – PEB – Nieto
d
Sam – EJ
Cole – Makar
Z – Graves
gardiens
Frank
Grubi
Scratch: Kamenev, Barbs
Injured: Mikko
Team Stats
The Ducks set the tone early with a goal in the first minute, making it clear that the Avs weren’t ready to play. A nice 7-0 run in the middle of the 1st looked promising but didn’t produce and Anaheim ended up going ahead by 2 minutes later. From there we entered the penalty parade phase of the game with the teams trading PPGs early in the 2nd. Avs got within one again early in the 3rd with a second PPG, which was challenged but stood. The resulting power play was gruesome and the Ducks ended up with far more scoring chances than Colorado. That momentum carried forth to 5v5 play and they went ahead by 2 again which pretty much sealed the game. A short but ineffective 6v5 stint got Anaheim their 5th goal of the night into the open net.
The Avs won the shot battle with a +40/-33 and a 37-27 SOG advantage in all situations but it didn’t really feel like they were ahead most of the game. Shot pace at 5v5 was a laborious 108 per hour which matched the eye test of a slow, grindy game.
The power play had it’s moments, both good and bad, going 2 for 6 on the night. The PP early in the 2nd and the freebie from the lost challenge were both hideous with Anaheim controlling the puck in the Avs zone for far too long. The PK was ok I guess, the Ducks only goal was from a Ryan Graves deflection continuing a trend of Avs defenders tipping pucks past their tendys far too often this year.
TOI
Top 6 forwards were Mack, Landy, Kadri, Compher, Donskoi and Burakovsky. In all situations it was much the same with the first 4 all over 20 minutes and the other two around 16 each. Val Nichushkin brought up the rear at 7 minutes 5v5 and 7:27 overall.
The defensive regime went EJ, Sam, Cole, Makar then Zadorov and Graves. Overall it was Sam (22), EJ (19+), Cole (19+), Makar (19), Big Z (14+) and Graves (14). Makar went back to PP1 late in the game and he and Sam were paired up for much of the 3rd period.
Individual
– The general consensus was that Makar and the 4th line were good and that was it but I would add Girard and Donskoi there and Kadri at times. Lots of guys didn’t look good.
– EJ and Landy really struggled and this isn’t a new thing. Gabe is perhaps dealing with a nagging injury, I hope so because he’s been invisible lately other than taking bad penalties. EJ’s questionable decisions with the puck and lack of offense have been a theme in the first 11 games and it doesn’t seem to be getting better. Shoulder surgery is a tough deal and it’s pretty much expected that a player returning from that will not be 100% for a while. The staff need to figure out a way to use him that isn’t a net drag on the team until (if?) he gets back to top condition. Both guys are big parts of the team leadership and it’s bad form to have them looking like this.
– Anyone seen the Andre Burakovsky that scored b2b game-winners and used to enter the zone effortlessly? I sure haven’t. He’s not been awful but playing top 6 means being invisible is a no go.
– The Val Nichushkin experiment seems to be drawing to it’s inevitable conclusion. He was decent on the 4th line, then went away for a while and now seems to be a poor fit with Jost and Wilson. The lack of puck skills is alarming, he’s just not able to provide anything other than forecheck pressure and that’s not enough.
– I’ve really liked Cale Makar over the last two games and this is what we want to see from him at even strength. I’m still not sold on him running PP1, he plays more like Mack than say Tyson Barrie. I think he would be excellent in a 2D power play setup, like he was at UMass last year, but running the Avs umbrella doesn’t suit him as much. Something for the staff to think about. He and Sam together at 5v5 seems to be something that could really pay off, the only problem there is what do you do with the other 4 guys that are basically all non-puck movers at this point. Rosen (injured) and Timmins (probably not ready yet) could be options down the road to make that work but for now I don’t think it’s viable.
Burgundy Narrative Metric
– “Best guys being your best guys” gets a (-) ah, no
– Quality vs Quantity gets a (+) quantity fine, quality lagging
– Power Play Watchability gets a (+) inconsistently bad as usual but 2G yay
– The Dreaded Turtle gets a (+) Anaheim sure did
– Starting Goalie Battle% gets a (-) Frank was a little leaky although he got little help. Overall this year he’s been fine, 2-1 with a .926 is topnotch stuff from a backup.
– Referee Oppression Index gets a (-) A bit too much active reffing for me, especially from late 1st to mid-2nd.
Total: -1¾
Next up
Some rest then a rematch with the Cats on Wednesday
Thanks as always to the NHL and Natural Stat Trick for numbers and visuals
