Colorado came to Pittsburgh for the second game of their East Coast road trip. The Penguins were desperate for a win after dropping their last three games.
The Avs hoped to extend their winning streak to seven games, but it was snapped tonight. Colorado fell 4-0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Alexandar Georgiev prompted concern after his last two outings didn’t look as effortless.
Georgiev proved he can handle a heavy workload with 62 starts last season, but there’s only so much a goaltender playing behind dysfunction can do.
The Avs beat themselves tonight.
A first period riddled with execution issues was followed by a second period of the same. They over-complicated things looking for the perfect play. As a result, they made themselves vulnerable and prone to turnovers.
In the first period, Nathan MacKinnon took a slashing call. Colorado was excellent on the subsequent kill, but the d-zone time at its end proved costly. Josh Manson wasn’t able to settle a rimmed puck for the clear, and Sam Girard went to his belly to stick-check Rickard Rackell.
Unfortunately, his stick knocked the puck straight to Reilly Smith instead. Smith sent the puck upstairs to put Pittsburgh on the board first.
Near the end of the first, Mikko Rantanen made a nice pass to Girard for the entry. Girard dropped the puck back for Rantanen, and Bryan Rust took it right from Rantanen’s stick instead.
Rust sent it to Evgeni Malkin who took off up ice. On a two-on-one, Malkin sent the slot pass to Smith for his second of the night.
In the second period, Josh Manson struggled to exit his end with Radim Zohorna on his tail. He got the pass through to Miles Wood with the hope that he would skate it in, but the Pittsburgh’s defensive blueline whacked the puck back to center ice.
Zohorna passed to Drew O’Connor coming down the ice in transition. Manson got a stick in his lane, but his stick tapped the puck to the top of the crease by itself. Old friend Lars Eller was there to bat the puck into the net farside.
Through two periods, the Avs just didn’t look like themselves. They couldn’t sustain meaningful pressure on a four-minute powerplay. They had nine chances on net total through four powerplays.
One of their best chances of the night came on their third period powerplay chance. Drouin fed Byram below the right circle, but Tristan Jarry gloved it.
Shortly after the man-advantage, MacKinnon tried to breakout the puck and turned it over to Kris Letang instead. Letang passed the puck to Sidney Crosby in the slot and he batted it in.
Everybody struggled a bit in this game, but Colorado’s depth showed a glimmer of hope. Logan O’Connor gave Fredrik Olofsson a nice feed for a net-front chance in the second period.
The fourth line weathered the dysfunction of this game by sticking to their game plan and keeping it simple. They made the fewest mistakes of anyone.
The third line made up of Miles Wood, Ross Colton, and Jonathan Drouin had one of their most cohesive nights yet. Keeping in mind that the top-six experienced a lot of mixing, Colton’s line was responsible for the most scoring chances on net together.
Colorado made a valiant push in the third period, but it wasn’t enough to paper over the turnovers. In total, they managed to create opportunities inside home plate – even more so than the Pens. The Avs finished with 13 high-danger chances to Pittsburgh’s four.
Tristan Jarry had a good night in net and came up with saves on some of Colorado’s best chances. Pittsburgh’s defense also played with active sticks and blocked a lot of shot attempts.
Even though the Avs spent a good amount of time in the offensive zone, they struggled to make it meaningful.
In the end, their own execution errors did them in. Bednar said that Pittsburgh had ten scoring chances and three goals from turnovers alone.
Georgiev’s night ended halfway through the third period. Ivan Prosvetov entered the game for the first time in an Avs uniform. He only had half a period left to play and stopped all five shots he faced.
Jared Bednar said that it was his intention to give Prosvetov half a period so that Georgiev could start on Sunday afternoon in Buffalo.
Colorado’s stars had the toughest night of all. Perhaps its because they’ve played so well through six games. Those who watch Colorado night in and night out have a refined palate accustomed to the finer things.
This was more like a frozen TV dinner.
Cale Makar and Toews looked especially human. Toews, usually incredibly apt with his stick, didn’t make much attempt to defend the two-on-one by getting his stick in the lane. Makar overhandled the puck at times losing possession.
Rantanen and MacKinnon were both responsible for costly turnovers that resulted in a goal-against.
This isn’t an indictment of some of the best players in the league, but it is an invitation. There is a big opportunity for them to return to form in time for their matinee game against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.
The Avs will get one more chance to steal another on the road before they return home. They will be the more rested team – Buffalo will get New Jersey on Friday. Their response is important.
