Avalanche cannot overcome self-inflicted wounds in afternoon loss to Blues

Afternoon games have the reputation of producing some wild contests and today’s Avalanche-Blues matinee affair certainly lived up to it.

While the Avalanche fell short in a 5-3 loss and had their five-game winning streak snapped, it was a weird one from the very beginning.

Colorado scored two goals in the first four minutes of the game, then watched the Blues score three straight to take the lead by the end of the first period. The Avs bounced back with their typical strong second period and tied the game.

The third period was close but the Blues showed a bit more urgency and desperation and the good fortune they experienced all game (their first goal was an own-goal by Devon Toews and their third goal was a wildly deflected puck that landed right on Ivan Barbashev’s stick on the backdoor with Devan Dubnyk on the other side) continued as a very soft call on Nazem Kadri set them up on the power play.

With just over 30 seconds left on that power play, Ryan Graves lazily tripped a man and put the Avs down two players. It took St. Louis just a mere nine seconds to score with the two-man advantage as Mike Hoffman utilized his only NHL skill and bombed a one-timer past Dubnyk for the game-winning goal.

With the Avs in the very foreign position of trailing by one goal in the final minutes, the six-on-five work from them was predictably terrible, mustering one weak Cale Makar wrister that was blocked before Ryan O’Reilly got to a loose puck in the neutral zone and banged home the empty-net goal for a hat trick and to secure just the second St. Louis win against Colorado this season.

In the big picture, this hurts a bit as the Wild try to chase them down for the second seed and the Golden Knights try to pull away from the Avs for the first seed. Colorado has games in hand on both, however, so the standings might end up being deceiving today depending on what Colorado does with those extra games.

Ultimately, Colorado has lost just three regulation games since March 1 after this game. It was a weird game where the Avs shot themselves in the foot one too many times and the Blues took just enough advantage to get a much-needed win as they fight for Arizona for the final playoff spot in the division.

Won’t make too much of any of the good or bad from this game but the disastrous first period is not something the Avalanche should make any kind of habit.

TAKEAWAYS

• I thought Devan Dubnyk was nothing short of awful today. That doesn’t excuse the defense in front of him, especially in the first period, but I thought the goals scored were mostly nothing special. Compare to Jordan Binnington, who had to make several big-time stops throughout the game to keep the Avs in check (the Avs hitting several posts also helped Binnington quite a bit). Dubnyk made very few, if any, great saves where he bailed his team out. There was some bad luck in the four goals that got behind him but some softies got through, too. That’s consistent with Dubnyk’s entire career really as he’s usually good for a head-scratcher of a goal per game and, if he’s on your team, hopefully it stops at just the one. I thought he got a little lucky on some of the quality scoring chances by the Blues two days ago and that luck dried up today. Not a big deal and I would still play him on Monday against the Blues (barring a miraculous Grubauer recovery?) but this was the kind of performance where you remember he was nabbed for just a fifth-round pick and a salary dump.
• No game is ever the fault of a single player, however, so don’t think I’m only looking at Dubnyk here. The defense in front of him was awful in the first period. I do think they locked it down quite a bit from there but they had some collective puck issues throughout. Cale Makar had a three-point game but I thought this was one of his weaker defensive performances of the season. He was losing guys in transition and then losing puck battles without nearly the kind of resistance we’re accustomed to seeing from him. A nice showing on the stat sheet but I guarantee you there’s some video work happening tomorrow with him.
• The Jost-Nichushkin combination is now enjoying fellow analytic darling Brandon Saad jumping in on their mayhem. Their underlying numbers for today’s game were absurd, with Saad peaking with 13 scoring chances for and zero against. That duo was destroying with Joonas Donskoi and they arguably have found another level with Saad with them. They didn’t get anything behind Binnington today but they absolutely shredded puck possession and shot share. I never would have imagined two former 10th overall picks with completely different games would mesh this well. The Avs might have fallen into this one but they should let this thing ride. It’s a hell of a duo right now.
• On the other side is Nazem Kadri, now without a goal in 14 straight games. While it looked he was playing through the struggles earlier in that stretch, he has not looked good in the last several games. A lot of selfish hockey and just not making goaltenders make tough saves on any of his shots. He threw five pucks at the net today and he still wasn’t very good overall. He’s also not playing with the same level of physical edge that usually helps make up for when he’s going through scoring slumps. That said, the penalty call on him in the third period was a straight-up joke. The Avs need more from him, though, and the sooner the better.
• An amusing hat trick for O’Reilly. An own goal from Toews, a great play on a backhand goal where Dubnyk was cheating hard expecting a cross-crease pass, and an empty-net goal. He did work but it wasn’t exactly the dominant performance you’d think from a guy who scored three goals. Good enough for the win, though, so you tip your cap. He’s up to four points (all goals) against the Avs in seven games played this year.