Avs Game 38 Studs & Duds: Victory once more

Finally, a win to talk about! Turns out in a game where the Avalanche plays really well and come from behind on the scoreboard, there are a lot more good things to say than bad. Let’s get to it.

Studs

Alexandar Georgiev

This is my third edition writing this piece and each game has included Georgiev. Well, tonight that isn’t changing. It wasn’t so much that Georgiev was dominant or anything, he just made a couple of huge saves late in the game when the game was tied 2-2 and the Oilers actually started caring about offense again. Look at some of these saves.

That last one might have just been luck as Hyman batted that puck out of the air and right into Georgiev’s pads, but it counts as a save and the Avs absolutely deserved a little bit of good fortune in the game-changing plays column. He even added an assist on Makar’s game-winning goal for good measure. Very good night for Colorado’s netminder.

Nathan MacKinnon

I contemplated putting an entire highlight reel of MacKinnon in this game, but ultimately just decided to put his incredible goal instead and go with the numbers. Here’s the goal, in case you somehow missed it.

Nice plays by both Cale Makar and Evan Rodrigues, but this is all about MacKinnon’s brilliance. It’s an exceptional individual effort and a great finish. How goaltenders don’t just default to MacKinnon going high glove in that spot I don’t know, but Stuart Skinner is still just a baby (in NHL terms). Tough lesson learned.

The rest of the night is just statistical dominance. Here are his individual numbers:

• 16 shot attempts
• 11 shots on goal
• 10 scoring chances
• 3 high-danger chances

Followed by his on-ice results (at even strength):

• 29-11 Corsi
• 19-8 Shots on goal
• 21-6 Scoring Chances
• 9-4 High-danger chances
• 75% expected goals for

Okay, MacKinnon, we see you. Good lord do we ever see you. The fact that Edmonton walked out having given up just a goal and an assist to MacKinnon after that performance is another stroke of luck for them on a night they were plenty lucky throughout.

Cale Makar

He got a freebie assist on MacKinnon’s solo act but he slammed the door shut on Colorado’s five-game losing streak himself when he gathered up a puck in the neutral zone, shook Zach Hyman, blew past Connor McDavid and ripped a wrister behind Skinner. Just like that, the demons were gone.

Like MacKinnon, this was a game of statistical dominance for Makar, but to see him show that kind of burst and elite play at the very end of his eye-popping 33:09 of ice time tonight? I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. He’s not human. He’s an alien put on earth to do recon on humans but decided to play hockey instead. Just a tremendous talent and his goal was a thing of beauty.

His work in his own zone was stepped up quite a bit, too, as he was only on the ice for three high-danger chances and five scoring chances at even strength. Given he played a comical 20:37 in that situation, that’s a very good defensive effort.

Evan Rodrigues

His return to the lineup put an exclamation point on how important he has become to this year’s Avalanche team. Instead of playing with other “secondary” players, however, he slotted into Mikko Rantanen’s usual spot on Nathan MacKinnon’s right side and was brilliant.

He was all over the place with six shot attempts (five on goal) and four scoring chances. He made several nice plays to teammates for scoring chances, too, and was overall a menace to Edmonton’s society.

Brad Hunt

Scored the game-tying goal on a wicked shot that beat Skinner cleanly. The Avalanche needed a jolt and Hunt hopping off the bench and stepping into a puck was what the doctor ordered.

It wasn’t just that goal, however, that stood out. He was dangerous on multiple shifts in this game and in his five shot attempts was involved in two scoring chances. He didn’t take any penalties and walked out with only two Oilers shots on goal while Hunt was on the ice at even strength. You’ll take that from a third-pairing guy.

J.T. Compher

Compher was especially brilliant, as you’ll see in the video compilation below. He was primarily matched against Edmonton’s Kostin-McDavid-Yamamoto line and was plenty successful. His second matchup was against Draisaitl-RNH-Hyman and, again, held his own as he centered Mikko Rantanen and Alex Newhook. Those are two tough assignments with a makeshift line but they all performed well.

Rantanen, as you’d expect, was the main play-driver of that trio and Newhook lagged a little behind at times. Compher, however, was a defensive marvel who helped a little on offense. Here are some key plays from him throughout.

There is a LOT to love in those three minutes. A better shooting night from Rantanen and Compher could have had several assists as he keyed multiple plays that resulted in the big Finn walking into great scoring opportunities.

Arguably his best play, however, was the very last highlight there as the game was tied 2-2 and Hyman appeared to have a step on Compher on the backdoor as they battled for a rebound. As I highlighted in that clip, Compher is behind Hyman but it’s his effort to get his stick in the way that keeps that puck from getting a chance to go in. Hyman was denied the hat trick goal and Compher might just have saved the game.

Jared Bednar

Have to give the coach props for breaking up his two best and most dominant players. We saw a similar level of statistical dominance two nights ago in Vancouver when Colorado’s top line was out there together and they tore the Canucks up in shot metrics. They struggled to finish, but the process was great.

With Rodrigues returning tonight, Bednar elevated him to the top line and dropped Rantanen next to Compher and Newhook to create a second line that was problematic for the Oilers.

This approach matched what the Oilers were doing as they had Draisaitl and McDavid primarily playing on different lines, too. The results were exceptional. Colorado’s top line dominated Edmonton and the Compher line held serve against each of Edmonton’s two superstars. The change worked wonders and is something the Avs should continue considering moving forward as these injuries linger.

Duds

Power Play

Another scoreless night, this time an 0/4 final line. Not hard to think that just one goal from that unit and the Avs have a very good chance to win the game in regulation. It’s pretty easy to match the two PPs tonight against each other. Edmonton’s top-ranked unit saw 8:18 of PP time and produced 10 shots on goal, 13 scoring chances, and nine high-danger chances. Colorado’s PP was on the ice for 8:00 and also produced ten shots on goal, 10 scoring chances, and four-high danger chances.

The difference is Edmonton scored twice for their only goals of the night and Colorado failed to score any, forcing them to find goals at even strength.

This wasn’t a case of Colorado playing poorly with the man advantage. You can clearly see the numbers stacked right there that they did just fine in terms of generation, they only failed to, you know, actually score.

It’s an important difference, eh?

Penalty Kill

On the other side of the ice, the penalty kill was responsible for the only goals the Avs gave up as Edmonton’s PP finished 2/5. Both goals were scored from the immediate vicinity in front of Georgiev, albeit in two very different ways.

The first goal was sparked by two all-world passes from Draisaitl and McDavid with Hyman just camping in front of the net waiting to tap a puck home. That’s what he did. It was a lot easier to do with no coverage on him as Logan O’Connor appeared to just lose track of Hyman for a second.

The second goal was a lot more of the schoolyard bs that I struggle to pin on anyone but the fortunes of good and bad bounces. A Tyson Barrie one-timer rocketed well over the net and was never all that close. It took a comically fortuitous bounce for Edmonton, popping out straight to McDavid, who whiffed initially, and continued traveling until Hyman got his stick on it. The puck trickled ever so slowly through Georgiev, who was then being pushed by Hyman’s stick.

The goal came with just four seconds left, a brutally cold finish to an otherwise effective PK. It wasn’t all bad, however, as the PK responded with two great kills immediately after this when the failed coach’s challenge gave Edmonton one chance and the complete made-up nonsense that was a call against Erik Johnson continued the penalty parade. This unit held through all of that, but also was the culprit for both Edmonton goals.

And let’s be real, there just weren’t many duds to pick from tonight.

Colorado’s third line

The Cogliano-Helm-O’Connor trio will be Colorado’s fourth line when (if?) the lineup gets healthy, so them playing up in responsibility makes it tough to be too hard on them. That said, boy were there some mistakes out there tonight.

Cogliano struggled to handle pucks all night, killing multiple transition opportunities that could have gone for scoring chances, and the line generally didn’t accomplish anything. You want to know how low-event this line was?

In a game that saw 82 shot attempts between the two teams at 5v5, only seven came with that trio on the ice. Four for Edmonton, three for Colorado. Exactly one shot on goal was registered and it was by the Oilers.

That level of low-event hockey is something you love out of a fourth line, but when your fourth line is barely being used, you absolutely need a little more from this trio than the classic “nothing bad happened!” outcome. It does, however, shine a light on just how effective this trio is going to be even on slow nights when the Avs are healthy and these guys are once again the fourth line.

Unsung Hero

Sam Girard

I wasn’t going to put him in Studs because I put Compher there instead and needed to save someone for this section. Girard potted an assist, which gives him four points in his last seven games, and he was just inches from his third goal in that same time span.

Defensively, however, you saw Girard really shine with several nice plays against McDavid, in particular. You can enjoy a myriad of Girard highlights below.

With his two-way impact on the game, it’s safe to say this was more of the player most of us have been expecting Girard to be. He used his feet well throughout, keep up with McDavid on multiple occasions and pressuring Hyman enough to draw a roughing call when Hyman got frustrated he couldn’t shake Girard.

This was a great night for G.

Mikko Rantanen

He was great tonight! He just couldn’t beat Skinner. He finished with 12 shot attempts, nine on goal, seven scoring chances, and three-high danger chances. Most of that was done without playing next to MacKinnon, giving credence to the idea that Rantanen can carry one line while MacKinnon carries another.

Harnarayan Singh’s call of Cale Makar’s game-winning goal

I just love this call. How can you not get gassed up listening to this?