Avs-Oilers Game 68 Studs & Duds

Studs

This shift

Every guy on the ice here does something of value. Casey Mittelstadt carrying the puck through the middle and finding Jonathan Drouin creates the rush opportunity. It doesn’t go in, but the work was only just beginning. For a line with two players with a softer reputation, this is the stuff you’re looking to see.

Sean Walker did a great job keeping the puck in the zone. Jack Johnson didn’t just fire a shot two feet wide hoping for a miracle tip in front and when the one-timer bounced around, Johnson read the play and got from the middle of the ice and pinched to keep it in the zone.

Artturi Lehkonen got stick on stick to keep the clearing attempt from having any power on it, then Drouin circled to the top of the zone and kept it in and got it down low to Mittelstadt.

From there, the dagger. Mittelstadt swung around the net looking for space while Lehkonen drew attention in front of the net. Walker saw his opening and darted to the front of the net. Mittelstadt found him and Walker finished for his second goal of the night.

This goal tied the game late in the third period after Edmonton had scored minutes earlier to take the lead. The Avs didn’t get down on themselves and immediately got to work. Walker finished the play but this was teamwork making the dream work.

Sean Walker

A two-goal night for Walker, this was a dream realized. The Avs acquired Walker because his quality skating and aggressive attack mindset had him tailor-made to be an Avalanche defenseman. Of the acquisitions, I’d say he was probably the slowest to acclimate (not that he was playing poorly) and that’s been common for newcomers on the Avalanche defense under Jared Bednar.

It can take time, but once the light bulb comes on, it has produced some great results. Remember Josh Manson’s stellar two-way play during the Avalanche Stanley Cup run two years ago? Walker has a ways to go to produce those kinds of memories, but this was a game where you saw him really “get” what being an Avalanche defenseman is all about.

Leon Draisaitl is going to have nightmares about Walker because Walker exploited him on his first goal when he beat Draisaitl up the ice, on his second goal when Draisaitl was standing there high in the defensive zone doing nothing (what #29 on Edmonton in the clip above), and again in overtime when Draisaitl even tried to interfere with Walker but was too far behind him to provide meaningful resistance as Walker sprung for a breakaway.

It would have been awesome to see Walker get the hat trick in overtime, but I think everyone from the Avalanche side of this walks out feeling okay with how it ultimately went down. Walker was a nightmare for the Oilers to deal with tonight.

Colorado’s ability to match up

Edmonton is an interesting marker for comparison because they are the only team out west that has the kind of elite talent at forward to match up against the Avalanche. They’ve also been on an incredible tear since mid-December and have salvaged what appeared to be a lost season and could push for the Pacific Division crown if things break right.

The McDavid/Draisaitl versus MacKinnon/Rantanen battle will always make this interesting from a tactical standpoint. Edmonton has done everything in its power to build a balanced two-way forward corps that can crash and bang while maintaining its skill advantage. They want to attack in transition, similar to Colorado, and these two teams consistently produce great hockey games.

Where the Oilers have found some life this season that they struggled to get done in previous years was separating McDavid and Draisaitl and sending waves of high-end talent at teams. When the chips were down, they could always put the two stars back together when needed, but spreading the wealth has long been thought to be a key to their success.

This brings me to the Avalanche because tonight we saw the difference Casey Mittelstadt has on Colorado’s ability to handle those matchups. Pre-Mittelstadt, the Avs would have had Ross Colton or Ryan Johansen on either McDavid or Draisaitl and MacKinnon against the other.

Tonight, however, you saw the Oilers try to flex McDavid against Mittelstadt first and MacKinnon second while Draisaitl primarily went against MacKinnon and then Mittelstadt. The end result?

MacKinnon outplayed McDavid and was fine against Draisaitl while Mittelstadt broke even against McDavid and lost a little ground to Draisaitl. That’s a huge problem for the Oilers because their top guys have to dominate to win consistently. If their only advantage is a small bump of Draisaitl against Mittelstadt, they are in real trouble and this was in Edmonton so they picked the matchups.

In Colorado’s last two games, Mittelstadt’s primary matchups were against Elias Pettersson and Connor McDavid. He obliterated Pettersson and broke even against McDavid. That has allowed MacKinnon the freedom to run roughshod against the other guys, such as Adam Henrique whom MacKinnon tore apart tonight, and that has changed the entire dynamic of how the Avs can handle strategic line matchups.

None of this even considers the enormous advantage the Avalanche have in their defensive pairings, where Devon Toews and Cale Makar were up to their usual tricks tonight despite Makar being sick, Josh Manson was excellent on the second pairing, and Walker and Johnson had huge games on the third pairing.

Artturi Lehkonen/Josh Manson

Lehkonen was excellent in producing points with a perfect head man pass to spring Walker on Colorado’s first goal and then him going hard to the net on the game-winning goal was classic Lehkonen stuff, especially in Edmonton.

Manson’s physicality was a problem for the Oilers all evening and his bloodlust eventually boiled over as he tussled with the giant Vincent Desharnais in a pretty entertaining tilt that ended in hockey hugs and mutual respect. Cool.

Manson did lose the battle to Sam Carrick on Edmonton’s second goal but that’s going to happen when you spend all game in the phone booth in front of your net going to war. He was excellent in all other phases and I thought this was an impressive and complete effort from Manson.

Duds

Sam Girard

The other side of the second pairing for the Avs was Girard, whose on-ice results matched the eye test of a player who struggled quite a bit. There was a reticence with the puck that confused me. Girard has played with so much confidence lately and it has led to sharp decision-making and trust in his legs to escape the defensive zone with poise and possession.

That lethal combination was missing tonight and I struggled with his game. Too many turnovers and negative contributions for my liking. I was surprised to see him out there in overtime because of how well Makar, Toews, and Walker had all played but that’s a testament to the trust he has earned from the coaching staff.

It was a rare off night for G, but I couldn’t shake my struggles with his puck management.

Ross Colton

The second Oilers goal is a pretty big problem for me. He’s slow to read the play and got outplayed by Corey Perry, who didn’t have a stick (!) and then is not competitive high in the zone. All of that is an effort problem for me and it leaves me frustrated. There are better plays to be made by other guys on the ice (both Manson and Girard could have done better work), but Colton sticks out to me because the problem to me appeared to be effort.

That’s not an encouraging look when Colton has become firmly entrenched as a checking center moving forward. That’s a role that requires quality work in the defensive zone and he has been excellent at times this year but sometimes devolves into puck-watching and play that lacks competitiveness a little too much.

I’m fine with Colton losing his matchup to McDavid. That’s just survival for the Avs, much the same as it is survival for the Oilers when MacKinnon is against Henrique, but losing against Sam Carrick? That’s not great and the less than 10 minutes of ice time tonight reflected how the coaching staff felt Colton was playing.

Unsung Hero

Alexandar Georgiev

This is already really long so I’ll keep this brief on Georgiev. He was excellent tonight in stopping 32 of 34 shots. Stuart Skinner was great opposite him but this was a goaltending duel of excellence.

We talk a lot about how Georgiev often needs to make the extra save and overtime was the perfect encapsulation of that. Georgiev came up with a huge glove save on a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins breakaway and Skinner failed to stop the Lehkonen buzzer-beater in front.

Both were as Grade-A of scoring chances as you will get. Georgiev made the stop, Skinner did not. I’ve certainly expressed my fair share of frustration with Georgiev’s game this season but tonight was a lot of the kind of performance I was hoping we’d see more frequently. To his credit, he has a .913 save percentage in his last 13 starts so his game is moving in the right direction. Tonight is another feather in that cap.