The Colorado Avalanche suffered their first shutout of the season in a frustrating 2-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings. These were the Avs studs and duds.

Studs

Mackenzie Blackwood

It was a pretty tough result for Colorado‘s goaltender last night as he allowed just one goal 33 seconds in on a backdoor tap-in on a 2v1. That was it. That was the end of Detroit’s scoring against Blackwood. In my eyes, it was his fourth good start in a row (I maintain he played well versus Ottawa) after the utter disaster class against Philadelphia on January 23.

He was stout against even though his workload once again wasn’t overwhelming. He faced just 24 shots, but eight of them were high-danger shots and Blackwood stopped all but the first one he faced. There isn’t really a lot more you’re asking a goaltender to do than what Blackwood did. The defense was mostly fine, allowing the one golden chance early and then a couple more late as they were pressing to tie the game, but in between that it was pretty ho hum.

Detroit created some good looks, but a lack of execution kept Blackwood’s job from being harder. Some credit goes to the Avalanche defense, some goes on the Red Wings for not finishing better. All roads led to Blackwood and he was plenty good enough to win last night.

The third line

It is a significant problem that Colorado’s best line was comprised of Joel Kiviranta, Jack Drury, and Parker Kelly. It’s not a surprise that that line has been good because we’ve seen them play well as a trio before, but for the second straight game, this line was exceptional defensively. In Detroit, they didn’t allow any shots on goal in over 11 minutes of 5v5 time. Last night, they allowed just one…in 11 minutes of ice time.

The major difference is that this line pushed the play offensively way more than in Detroit, where they registered just one shot on goal (of course, it went in, so…). In 11:03 of 5v5 time last night, here were the results:

• Shot attempts: 18-6
• Shots on goal: 7-1
• Scoring chances: 10-4
• High-danger chances: 3-1

That’s everything you want from a defense-first line. Now, is it not the most hockey thing to ever hockey that they scored on their only shot on goal two games ago and then failed to score on seven shots on goal last night? The sport is cruel like that.

Anyway, this was the best and most dangerous line from the Avalanche beginning to end. It was too bad they couldn’t get rewarded for it because Parker Kelly was all over the ice.

Duds

Special teams

Zero goals were scored on special teams last night, but that’s mainly because of two reasons: the Avalanche power play is truly terrible, and the Red Wings couldn’t convert their myriad chances into actual shots on goal.

Each team had two power plays, so I can just compare them side-by-side and show you which unit was dangerous and which unit might actually be the cure for insomnia.

To recap: Detroit did well on its power plays to create scoring chances and put a lot of pressure on the Avalanche. If they hadn’t misfired as often as they did, they very likely would have potted at least one goal.

On the penalty kill, Detroit also did well to create scoring chances and put a lot of pressure on the Avalanche. Allowing more scoring chances than you create in four minutes of playing with more skaters on the ice is flat-out embarrassing. The Avalanche power play was once again so inept that it could only draw even in shots on goal. The Avalanche power play allowed as many shots on goal as the Avalanche penalty kill.

How many different data points does this team need to fire Dave Hakstol? He has been an unmitigated failure coaching the unit he was primarily brought in the coach. I have felt that the team’s improved 5v5 play, especially in the defensive zone, is likely in some part due to Hakstol’s voice, but minor gains at 5v5 do not even begin to outweigh the way the power play has completely cratered.

This tweet from Mike Kelly sums it up nicely:

“Net PP%” is not just how often a power play converts chances, but also counts shorthanded goals allowed against the percentage. Since the Avs have allowed a league-leading nine shorties, their power play goal differential is a league-worst 18.

It’s even more embarrassing when you factor in that the Avalanche are third in the NHL with 5:41 PPTOI per game. Of course, that TOI would drastically decrease if they actually scored a power-play goal more than once every four games, but we aren’t there yet.

Cale Makar

I don’t have a problem with how he played the 2v1 that allowed the goal. He made a play; the Red Wings made a better one. The real problem was obviously Devon Toews using his first shift in a month to recklessly pinch and flail and accomplish nothing good.

I’ve liked Makar‘s defensive game a lot more over the last week or so, thought last night wasn’t the greatest example of that. I thought he had some struggles, but nowhere to the level of previous games (I know the numbers are bad, I’m just not necessarily pinning that on Makar).

My real issue was with Makar’s offensive play. It was, frankly, at times offensive. He led the Avalanche with 10 shot attempts, which has pros and cons. On one hand, Makar is awesome, so his shooting a lot is good. The con is that he had two shots on goal. Three of his shots were blocked, but five missed everything.

It has felt like a genuine epidemic with Makar lately. He can’t hit the net. He has just one goal in his last nine games. In that time, he has 27 shots on goal on 82 shot attempts. If you’re curious, that’s an average of three shots on goal per game and 9.1 shot attempts. Nathan MacKinnon, normally one of the league’s highest-volume shooters, is only averaging 6.9 shot attempts over those same nine games.

If Makar is going to shoot that often, more needs to be happening when he does it. Last night was just another extreme example of the quiet struggles he has had for about the last two months (he has just 24 points in 29 games and has lost the vice grip he had on the Norris Trophy).

Avs Unsung Hero

The Olympic Break

It’s not here yet, but this team has spent the last month looking like they were already on a beach somewhere (or in Italy, in the case of eight of the Avs). They need to get away from the game. They need to stop playing games without Gabe Landeskog. Their downturn in process is notably tied closely to his injury (Toews, too). They need their leader back. He’s important. Let’s see them show a little fight and actually grab a win before the break.