When the Colorado Avalanche lost to the Vancouver Canucks tonight in a 4-1 snoozefest, the easy conclusion to draw was that the Avalanche didn’t care very much about the outcome of the game. The loss clinched what was a near-statistical certainty before and locked the Avs into the third seed in the Central Division. Their likely opponent, the Dallas Stars, got waxed at home by top seed Winnipeg in a game that all but clinched the division title for the Jets.
With all of that said, it wasn’t all that surprising when the Avs never really got their legs going in the game tonight. Despite having a few stretches of looking pretty good, the Avs fell behind 2-0 in the second period and couldn’t dig themselves out of the hole.
Former Av Kiefer Sherwood continued his dominance of one of the clubs that let him walk away when he sniped a goal over the shoulder of Avs goalie Mackenzie Blackwood that put the Canucks up 2-0. Devon Toews responded later in the period with a tip-in goal that made it 2-1 and set up the third period to be interesting.
Despite some of the shot metrics, the third period never really got interesting as the Canucks leaned on the Avs and eventually got the third goal to stifle any comeback hopes. An empty-net goal later and voila, a 4-1 loss on Fan Appreciation Night as the Avs closed the home portion of their schedule.
Jared Bednar was not happy with the Avalanche
I don’t have much to add about this game, so I’ll let Jared Bednar take it from here.
I’ve been covering Bednar during his entire tenure as Avalanche head coach and he has always been a treasure to listen to after games. He’s thoughtful and gives questions respect and takes the media portion of his job more seriously than lots of NHL head coaches do. He has made life easy for us in the Avalanche media when we look for quotes.
The upside of that is obvious. The other component of that is that when he’s unhappy, it’s just as clear. I’ve rarely heard him use that many one-word answers after a game. I know the game didn’t matter much for the standings, but Bednar has built the team’s culture and identity around being the best version of yourself day in, day out.
His ultimate philosophy has been on turning the page, not dwelling on mistakes, and building up the good habits that will serve the team well when they get into the grind of the postseason. Those habits…were not on display tonight.
I’m repeating Bednar here, but Colorado’s puck management was awful. They couldn’t break the puck out of their zone and their defensemen, in particular, were atrocious with the puck. It was both decisions and execution, too, so it wasn’t like they had the best of intentions and were falling short; all aspects of that part of the game were bad.
Defensively, they were porous at times, including another odd-man rush on their power play that began when Cale Makar got off the ice with a lazy “attempt” at a zone entry and essentially made it someone else’s problem. That kickstarted Vancouver’s transition opportunity and the Avs were lucky that the ensuing scoring chance hit the outside of the post.
Lost in this was the play of Blackwood, who has struggled a bit lately and has not had an outstanding game since his shutout of the Los Angeles Kings on March 27. He I don’t have many faults for the first and third goals. Both plays were the result of unusual bounces and horrible defense in front of him. The Sherwood goal, though, is the kind of clean look that he can’t be allowing to get by him.
He finished with another .900 save percentage. He’s had three mediocre-poor starts in a row while his battery mate, Scott Wedgewood, has looked awesome for his last several appearances. The late-season swoon will only increase the pressure on Blackwood as he prepares for his first postseason, but it is fair to wonder if the leash is getting shorter for him and how quickly Bednar would turn to Wedgewood in a best-of-seven series if Blackwood has a rocky start.
