Avs-Blue Jackets Game 2 Studs & Duds

The Colorado Avalanche lost their second game of the season 6-4 to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Here are the Avs Studs & Duds from the game.

Studs

Nathan MacKinnon

It’s disappointing that the Avs are missing so many guys up front because MacKinnon is once again locked in offensively and doing his thing. He nearly had a highlight-reel assist to Cale Makar in the first period but a brilliant save shut down an otherwise amazing play by MacKinnon with a spinning backhand feed to the center of the ice.

MacKinnon is clearly Colorado’s engine. When Jared Bednar saw his team was getting no goaltending help and was chasing the game again, he loaded up the top line as best he could (I’ll get to that soon). MacKinnon was really good all over the ice and was Colorado’s best player by quite a bit for me.

I think it’s easy to nitpick some of MacKinnon’s decisions with the puck but only because they stand out in the sheer volume of puck touches MacKinnon has throughout a game. There were individual moments I didn’t love, but he could have had a three-point night had Colton finished off that play in the final minute that hit the crossbar instead.

Casey Mittelstadt

Mittelstadt was the guy Bednar tabbed to step up and replace Jonathan Drouin’s absence on the top Avs line. Nikolai Kovalenko was only so-so and with the Avs down multiple goals for much of the game, they went for it with Mittelstadt.

I thought he responded quite well. His patience with the puck is an interesting contrast to the rest of the Avalanche, who obviously attempt to play at warp speed for much of the time.

Watching Mittelstadt survey the ice and pick his way through traffic is becoming one of those small things I enjoy during games and that patience created chances entering the offensive zone with possession. He’s so smart with the puck that playing alongside the talent of MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen only amplifies the creativity and vision from Mittelstadt. It’s not unlike what we see from Drouin, to be honest.

Now, moving Mittelstadt to left wing means he’s not centering the second line anymore, but Mittelstadt isn’t a main play driver the way MacKinnon is so Bednar let it roll. I enjoyed the results tonight and am curious how Mittelstadt gets used during the remainder of Drouin’s injury.

Sam Malinski

I’m not going to say a ton here, only that I thought Malinski was lightyears better than he was against Vegas. I liked the confidence and poise with the puck he showed in this game as he was able to extend possessions with smart decision-making and was actively involved in the offense.

He’s never going to be a physical force on defense, but you can tell he put on enough strength over the summer that he’s engaging far more on defense and battling hard. I appreciate that.

Duds

Goaltending

The Avs goalies gave up 12 goals on their first 34 shots of the season. That’s a save percentage of .648, which statistically speaking, means if the Avs had only given up breakaways on those 34 shots, they’d have about as good a chance of getting a stop as what they got through those 34 shots.

Alexandar Georgiev, fresh off giving up five goals on 16 shots in Vegas, allowed three more on nine shots, the third of which is an absolute joke for an NHL goaltender to give up.

What was so striking to me is that Georgiev, who was so fiery at times last year that it hurt him, was the exact opposite tonight, at least on TV. He hardly reacted, then got pulled, and that was that. I’m not making a judgment on an emotional (or lack of) response or not, but Georgiev looked like a man who needed a hug.

It would feel better if Justus Annunen came in and locked it down but instead, he watched the Avs erase a 3-1 deficit to tie the game and allowed two goals in the next six minutes. Just like that, it was 5-3 and the Avs were chasing the game again. He finished with 11 saves on 13 shots on goal, and the .846 save percentage was by far the best performance of either goaltender through two games.

This is absurd. The team just claimed Kaapo Kahkonen off of waivers from the Winnipeg Jets and suddenly it looks like the Avs need to get his immigration paperwork handled as quickly as possible because he could be in contention to start some games for them.

It’s outrageous that we’re four days into the season talking like this, but the team’s biggest weakness last season has been its biggest weakness again, this time to a shocking degree. It’s been that bad.

At some point, maybe even soon, one of these guys is going to give up something like three goals on 22 shots and it’s going to feel downright heroic. What a mess this was again tonight.

The third period

Going into the final period down two goals in your home opener, and the first shot on goal comes 10:14 into the period? That’s not good enough.

There were some chances before Chris Wagner broke the proverbial ice with his shot on goal, but it was nowhere near good enough. At 5v5 during the third period, they created one high-danger chance and just six scoring chances overall, their lowest output of the three periods.

It would be one thing if they were playing a defensive stalwart, but Columbus is not that team. The power play was good, but the team at 5v5 was nowhere near good enough.

That said, I will give them props for nearly pulling off the comeback because after Ross Colton scored to make it 5-4, he hit the crossbar shortly after that would have made it 5-5. I just wish that same sense of urgency had hit before the final two minutes.

Colorado’s second pairing

The defense on the whole was not bad in this game, but this pairing had the two worst moments of the night. Josh Manson was slow to pick up Zach Werenski streaking through the middle of the ice on the first Columbus goal, then Sam Girard lost Sean Monahan behind the net on the fifth Blue Jackets goal (Ross Colton also lost his man, who scored the goal from a nice feed by Monahan).

The final numbers look good for the pairing, but these were the two of five goals that you actually could look at the defense directly and leave wanting.

Avs Unsung Hero

Ivan Ivan

I loved Ivan’s game. He worked hard, created opportunities for his line, and the goal MacKinnon scored with eight seconds remaining in the first period was a rebound from Ivan’s shot on goal where he contorted his body and got a puck on net.

There is nothing sexy about what Ivan does. He is proving to be a master of simplicity, which is precisely what you’re looking for from a fourth-line player. He understands where he is and how to play in whatever situation he’s in. It’s north-south, it’s being hard on pucks and playing on his toes. He just “gets it.”

His underlying numbers also rock in this game, but the Avs were down multiple goals for the majority of this game so it was definitely a “score effects” kind of night for shot metrics.