"We didn't execute to our best ability": First seed slips away from Avalanche

With no crowd on hand to constantly urge players to shoot every time they touch the puck, the Avalanche seemed to use their final round-robin game against Vegas to practice their passing. Or, overpassing, as the case might have been.

“Yeah,” Nathan MacKinnon said after being asked during his postgame presser if the Avs should have shot the puck more. “I think so.”

Succinct as always, MacKinnon scored Colorado’s first goal in their 4-3 overtime loss that secured the west’s second seed and set the Avs up with a first round series against the Arizona Coyotes.

MacKinnon struggled to find the same time and space he had against both St. Louis and Dallas but still finished with one goal on four shots on goal as he had a significant impact on the outcome.

Not all of it was good, however, as he took two penalties. The first, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in which he was jawing with officials after an incorrect icing call, was the result of a competitive fire we’ve increasingly seen spilling out throughout the season.

As you’d expect from a player with such an on-ice fire, MacKinnon didn’t mince words when asked what Vegas did to slow Colorado’s attack in this one.

“We outshot them by about 15,” MacKinnon said. “We had our chances. [Robin] Lehner played great. I thought we had close to 40 shots. They’re a fast team and they stay above pucks. We didn’t execute to our best ability. We feel like we have another gear. Nothing to take away from them but we felt like we could’ve buried more of our chances and put the game away.”

The Avs actually outshot Vegas 35-26 and had minor advantages in both scoring chances and high-danger chances. With each team involved in goaltender battles, it was interesting to see Robin Lehner slightly outplay Philipp Grubauer along the way as each made a couple of huge saves but neither were lockdown saviors, either.

Lehner probably did enough to win the Vegas goaltending job as his counterpart faltered badly against St. Louis earlier in the week. What happens with Grubauer is still up in the air as head coach Jared Bednar declined to name a goaltender moving forward.

The focus really wasn’t on this game much after it concluded, however, as each team immediately began looking forward to their playoff matchups. The win meant Vegas got the top seed and a date against upset darling Chicago while the Avs get Arizona, who had an upset of their own as the 11th seed with their 3-1 series victory over sixth seed Nashville.

“It’s a huge challenge,” MacKinnon said of the upcoming series against the Coyotes. “They’re a very good team, well-structured. They have some good offense. You guys know what they’re like, I don’t have to explain it. It’s going to be a tough series but we’ll do our homework tomorrow and Monday. I don’t know when we’re going to play but we’ll be well-prepared and ready to go for Game 1.”

MacKinnon’s three-point performance in the three-game round robin left pretty of room for improvement but it certainly wasn’t as if he played poorly He contributed in each game but never felt like he was quite the same dominant player we’ve grown accustomed to.

One of the big differences in this year’s Avalanche team is the lack of need for MacKinnon to solely lead them. MacKinnon’s three points put him top five on the Avs in scoring, tied with Andre Burakovsky and Joonas Donskoi while Mikko Rantanen and Nazem Kadri led the Avs with four points each.

“I’m not looking to carry the team,” MacKinnon said. “I know I’m one of the key guys and I’m prepared to perform. Obviously, playoffs are tough and you need four really good lines and we have that, good D, good goalies. We feel good. Obviously, losing today sucks but we’re the number two seed in the west. We’re not in a bad spot. We’re feeling good heading into the first round.”

The series schedule against Arizona has yet to be announced but Round 1 as a whole begins on Tuesday.

TAKEAWAYS

• Grubauer wasn’t spectacular in this one but I don’t think he was a sieve either. It wasn’t the kind of performance I’d be comfortable taking the job away from him over but I’ll understand if Bednar wants to go with Francouz in Game 1. I’d roll Grubi but that’s just me. I don’t think he did too much wrong in this one outside over the hard overcommit on the second goal but even then you can make a real argument for goaltender interference on the play.
• Speaking of which, I didn’t mind Bednar’s decision not to challenge that. I can understand those who wanted to but Bednar trusted his team to be able to fight back. They did exactly that and had plenty of their own chances to finish the game. We aren’t looking back at that play as a pivotal turning point. That goal only made it 2-1 a little over halfway through the second period. Bednar trusted his team to be able to find their way back instead of flipping a coin and putting them down 2-1 and on the penalty kill. At best, it’s 50-50 and what went down on video would not have, in my opinion, put them close to 50-50. A tough call either way.
• Something about Sam Girard and overtime just hasn’t clicked. Everything about Girard’s overall profile suggests he should be an awesome overtime player. A great skater with more of an offensive tilt but still a sound defender, especially in the less-physical format of 3v3? He should be at least above-average and he consistently underwhelms in the format. For me, I think it drives home that while I appreciate Girard for the quality player he already is, there’s still plenty of room for development here. When you remember he’s still a year or two from what is considered his true physical prime, it’s easy to believe he’ll use that time to get better and better. He plays such a confident game everywhere except the offensive zone when he has the puck. He knows his shot isn’t very good and he shies away from using it and I think that’s the root of most of his issues there.
• Not afraid to shoot is Cale Makar, who had eight shot attempts today but just one made it on net and it was an unscreened wrister from the point on a power play. He got an earful after the play from Mikko Rantanen, who knows there are surely better looks than that. It’s one thing to throw a puck on net with traffic, another entirely to do it so cavalierly while on a man advantage and nobody taking away the goaltender’s eyes. I don’t mind the aggression, but Makar could certainly use a little better shot selection. Don’t be a Melo.
• To steal a phrase my sister used all the time in the 90s, Nazem Kadri has been “all that and a bag of chips.” What a beast performance so far. His game-winning goal was obviously thrilling stuff but he came within a post of scoring the game-tying goal with Grubauer pulled. He had to settle for an assist instead but he needs to start to cash these chances right in front of the net. Second chances accounted for his GWG versus the Blues and Compher’s GTG today. Had Kadri just buried them the first time around, we could’ve been saved some theatrics. The point is to get the goal, though, and the Avs have been fortunate to make that happen despite Kadri’s misses.
• It’s not just offensively where Kadri is crushing, however. His line being utilized in a shutdown role is working excellently and he did quite well for himself against his top matchup today against Mark Stone while devouring his opportunities against lower competition. Eat greedy, big fella.
• I greatly appreciated NBC’s live look at the results of Erik Johnson’s horse’s race today. As most know, EJ is an avid fan of horse racing and got into the sport as an owner several years ago. His horse, named “Landeskog” won its race today and I loved getting to actually see it. Pretty commanding victory, too. It’s the little things in life, y’all.