The Colorado Avalanche’s season came to a disappointing end with a 2-1 loss in double overtime to the Dallas Stars. Here are the Avs Studs and Duds from the game.
Studs
Georgiev had undeniably played better the entire postseason following his nightmare Game 1 against Winnipeg but the numbers didn’t follow because Colorado remained strong enough defensively to not give up very many shots on goal per game.
In a 2OT game, they allowed 38 shots and Georgiev stopped 36, giving them extra life in a game they absolutely should have lost in the first overtime period. He was stout the entire game and was the easy MVP for the Avalanche, win or lose. He had a strong redemption arc after that debacle against the Jets and made a case to Colorado’s front office to give him another go next season.
I don’t have a ton to add to Georgiev other than he made me look like the dummy of all dummies with his bounce-back performance as these playoffs wore on. I appreciate that and I wear my overreaction to his poor play. He did everything he could to steal this game for the Avalanche.
This isn’t entirely about the goal that he scored, but it is part of it because it was an excellent shot and a good reminder of who Rantanen is when he’s at his best. For my money, this was his best individual game of the series, even if his line overall badly struggled as the game wore on.
Before the Stars sunk their teeth into the Avs in the third period and overtimes, Rantanen was humming along and creating all kinds of chaos. He finished the game with 10 shot attempts, five scoring chances, and, obviously, the lone Avalanche goal scored on the power play.
Had the Avalanche seen more of this Rantanen throughout the series, it seems likely they would have had a better chance at winning more than just two games. It was too late for the true moose to show up.
He ran out of steam a bit towards the end but I thought Girard flexed the skill set that makes him such a valuable member of the Avalanche defense. He was moving pucks like a wild man and his breakout ability was especially notable against the aggressive and physical Stars.
I consistently want more on the offensive side of the puck as his shot is rarely a threat and he doesn’t create enough scoring chances with his playmaking, instead opting for throwing blind backhands towards the net and hoping to get lucky.
Some of that was in place tonight, too, but Girard had an individually solid showing this postseason (his partnership with Josh Manson less so). His work on the penalty kill got adventurous at times but that was true for the entire team and is an area I hope the Avalanche coaching staff looks to overhaul in the offseason.
Anyway, I thought Girard was a true bright spot defensively but he struggles to generate any offense and for a player with his size limitations, he has become an interesting player who doesn’t fit into any archetype.
Duds
The energy levels
Dallas hasn’t had more than one day off since the postseason began and came into Round 2 fresh off a grueling series against Vegas. They were also choosing to play a five-defenseman rotation despite having six healthy players. It stood to reason that at some point in this series, the Stars would hit the wall and simply run out of gas.
It seemed the opposite happened as the Avalanche looked completely spent from the first overtime on. They managed some decent chances in the second overtime, but Colorado looked like the team that didn’t live at altitude as the Stars kept getting stronger and stronger. It’s willpower at that point and it’s easy to say that Dallas simply wanted it more. You tip the cap to them, but the Avalanche running out of steam is easily the biggest disappointment of this series to me.
It’s not often you can directly point to where one team fell apart and the other gained strength.
As the offseason begins in Denver, this is where I’m starting when looking at the aspects of the series the Avalanche could control but failed.
Makar played 38:08 and picked up an assist on the Rantanen goal. That’s cool, kudos for all of that. What I have a real problem with is that Makar continued getting hemmed in his own zone as the game wore on and I really struggle with the fact that he only had two shot attempts.
He played nearly two full periods and managed to shoot just twice? The greatest goal-scoring defenseman of this generation simply didn’t shoot the puck in an elimination game? How does this happen?
Makar nearly ended the game in the first overtime with an awesome drive to the net but he lost the puck when he made the move to his backhand. Juice boxes, you know?
There is mounting evidence that when Makar reaches a certain workload, his effectiveness goes down. You can add tonight to that pile because his dynamic impact on the game decreased as the game got into its later stages.
It was an up-and-down series for Makar, who had moments of brilliance overshadowed by entire games of ineffectiveness. The Avalanche simply aren’t going to win many playoff games without him being part of the group that drives the bus.
The same goes for MacKinnon, who seemed to shrink entirely from the moment. I remember the 2020 postseason loss to Dallas where MacKinnon was making a huge impact on the series and the Stars just could not slow the guy down but there wasn’t enough consistent help around him to get that team across the finish line amid myriad injury issues.
Tonight, however, was an elimination game where MacKinnon threw plenty of pucks at Jake Oettinger with 13 shot attempts and six shots on goal, but he created only three scoring chances in over 36 minutes of ice time.
It’s just not good enough for the guy who is the betting favorite to win the Hart Trophy this year. I can get that players get tired and one whose game is built on huge bursts of speed and energy can wear down, but it wasn’t in second overtime that it began. He was struggling to get it going for much of the evening.
Disappointing is the only word I have for his play tonight. He’s an exceptional player but his team just needed that little extra from him, fair or not.
Avs Unsung Hero
I thought Parise played one of his best postseason games in an Avalanche sweater and I hate that it was the final game of his lengthy NHL career. I’m giving him love down here out of respect for all he has given the game on and off the ice, where he is universally renowned as one of the sport’s great human beings.
I wish the Avalanche could have given him the Stanley Cup he so desired. Good luck in retirement, Zach.
