The Avs came into the first period looking just okay. I think they would have been better had the goaltender interference call gone the other way, but it did not. Kyle MacLean played to the whistle, unlike some of the other players on the ice, and got the first one.
Alas, one goal is something that can be fairly easy to claw your way back from… a two-goal deficit, however, is not as easy. A lot of factors played into the second goal from Islanders’ forward Anders Lee. Not only does the defensive positioning look far from sound, but Mackenzie Blackwood‘s positioning was not so good either.
In the second period, you start to see the Avs push back a little bit, but not before the Isles put two more up on Blackwood, courtesy of Bo Horvat and Adam Pelech. Valeri Nichushkin, in his second game back since returning from injury, gets something past Ilya Sorokin. Martin Necas, with a lucky bounce off Sorokin’s pad and Travis Mitchell’s skate, puts the Avs back within two. Looked like the push was starting to come, but Mat Barzal put up a soft power play goal off of Blackwood’s glove, and the period ends 5-2.
Artturi Lehkonen gets the Avs back within two early in the third period! Cale Makar sells Sorokin on his positioning and finds Lehkonen for a sharp-angle shot that goes in.
No other goals from the period, and Coach Jared Bednar makes the decision to pull Blackwood with under four minutes to go.
Even with a power play, a 6-on-4 opportunity, they can’t get anything done. Ultimately, Casey Cizikas finds the empty net and ends this one 6-3.
The shot differential was… interesting
Especially in the first period, where the Avs led in shots on goal 19-16, yet were unable to crack Sorokin.
But they really lost it in the second period, a period where you finally get on the board, where they let the Isles outshoot them 16-7.
This is insane to say, too, considering they put up 10 high-danger chances in the first, and then only three in the second, which is reflective of the shot totals. The quality just wasn’t there.
Nathan MacKinnon (no surprise) was among the shot leaders for the Avs tonight. Pacing with him, though, were Josh Manson and Sam Malinski with four apiece.
Colorado lost the special teams battle
There was no positive to come out of tonight’s game as far as special teams goes.
The conversation heading into tonight was that the Avs (25th, 16.1%)and the Isles (32nd, 13.3%) have two of the worst power-play percentages in the NHL. Where the Avs should have had a leg up, though, was the penalty kill, which was the best in the league at 87.0% heading into tonight.
The Avs have had a perfect penalty kill in most of their games this season. That penalty kill was not perfect tonight.
Now, the conversation can also be had that the power play could have turned the tide, and that’s an extremely valid point. Colorado, late in the third period, had a 6-on-4 opportunity that they couldn’t convert on. During that two-man advantage, they put three shots on goal. Collectively, on 5-v-4, they only put up three shots. That’s unacceptable in a game where a man-advantage could be the difference between a regulation loss and getting a point out of a game like tonight.
The top guys showed up a little late
It all started with Martin Necas’ bouncy pinball goal, which didn’t happen until halfway through the second period.
To be fair, everybody looked sleepy in this one. Samuel Girard‘s late coverage factored into the Islanders’ second goal. Brent Burns got burned badly on the play that led to Barzal’s power-play goal. Nathan MacKinnon, fresh off a two-goal “boring” performance, looked like he did not want to play tonight. They looked complacent.
They were due for a game like this. After all but a dominant stretch of 17 games, 10 of which came in the form of consecutive wins, it seems like they were due for a slow, sloppy, complacent win.
The bad news: the late push in the middle of the game didn’t do much to push the needle for this team tonight.
The good news: they have three more games left in this road trip, plenty of time to find their game again.
