Avs return to earth as Vegas outplays them in frustrating overtime loss

The point streak lives!

That’s the upside, I suppose. The downside is Vegas retained control of the West Division as they scraped out a 3-2 overtime to stay just one point ahead of Colorado in the standings.

Because the season didn’t end today, there are a variety of takeaways here.

The Avs now have a 10-game point streak in which they have gone 8-0-2. Colorado takes the series lead on Vegas in the season at 3-2-1 with two games remaining in Vegas at the end of April. Vegas stays one point ahead of Colorado with one game in hand.

As these two teams try to separate from the rest of the division (Minnesota trails Colorado by three but St. Louis is now nine behind the Avs), that head-to-head matchup could end up being a significant feather in Colorado’s cap.

How we got here today was a pretty interesting journey, however. The Avalanche got up 1-0 early after Joonas Donskoi’s charmed season continues but Vegas was able to bend without breaking.

Marc-Andre Fleury didn’t look his best early on and the Avalanche were having their way with Vegas despite the 1-0 lead and cashing in on any of those chances would have completely changed the complexion of the game.

Instead, Vegas took advantage of a questionable Gabe Landeskog penalty and Alec Martinez cashed in with the only special teams goal of the day to tie it up.

The Avs regained their 2-1 advantage just a minute later as Devon Toews and Nathan MacKinnon played give-and-go and Toews beat Fleury for his sixth goal of the season and the Avs enjoyed a lead into the first intermission.

From that point on, Vegas really took it to Colorado, tying the game in the second period when Will Carrier tipped a puck past Philipp Grubauer and proceeded to dominate the Avs in the third period.

Officiating was a genuine storyline throughout the contest, however, as Vegas got to enjoy four PP chances, some of which came just as the Avs were starting to string together decent shifts at even strength, while the Avs received just two opportunities with the man advantage.

Most notably, however, was the call that wasn’t made. On the opening shift of overtime, MacKinnon was clearly tripped while in possession of the puck and apparently the only people in the hockey world who didn’t think it was a trip were either Vegas employees or the two on-ice officials.

While Grubauer shut down the ensuing three on one, it wasn’t long after that Max Pacioretty scored on a broken play in front (I mean that literally as Toews tried to clear the puck from the crease but his blade snapped off and flew behind the net) to give Vegas the win today.

It was a quality game between two damn good hockey teams and you can absolutely argue that Vegas was more deserving of the two points. In that case, Colorado nabbing three of four possible points and gaining one in the standings across the two teams was a fine piece of business from the Avs, even if that point left on the ice stings a little.

Colorado now goes another 15 games before they see Vegas again. They’ll play the Wild twice in Minnesota and see the Blues six times before the end-of-April dalliance in Vegas with the Golden Knights.

The Avs barely have gotten the better of Vegas this year and the Golden Knights barely have the standings advantage. Let’s hope it stays this close for the next month as these two teams continue to dance around the prospect of a playoff matchup.

TAKEAWAYS

• After 16 games of playing a bunch of teams that shouldn’t stress Colorado even if they see each other in the playoffs, today specifically was a great reminder for Colorado’s top line that they have to work just as hard as everyone else to find the success they are accustomed to. Vegas did a great job of limiting them across the two games, especially today. Fourth lines were a deciding factor in both games and Vegas tied the game in the second period after hemming Colorado’s top line into their own zone and simply outworking them for a nice tip-in goal. That’s a matchup Jared Bednar should be thrilled for Vegas to try their hand at and it completely blew up in Colorado’s face. It wasn’t the only shift Colorado’s top line got beaten by the Vegas fourth line either. That just cannot happen.
• After a couple of terrible showings, Colorado’s second line really made some noise today. Andre Burakovsky struggled a bit more than his linemates but it was no surprise to see Brandon Saad really put in work. His championship experience was absolutely part of his appeal in acquiring him in the offseason and seeing him find an extra gear in a game against Colorado’s main competition is no surprise at all. While that line wasn’t able to find the back of the net, they really had the best of play while on ice and make Vegas defend the hell out of them.
• Some Avs defenders had really tough days. Ryan Graves, Jacob MacDonald and Cale Makar all had real moments where they struggled in this game. Makar was a case of trying to do a little bit too much as he wasn’t trusting teammates with the puck on breakouts especially. The other two had some major struggles in their own zone and got beaten a number of times. Some of that is what Vegas can do, of course, but some of it was just an off-day for those guys.
• A reason I hate goaltenders being given the win or loss? Grubauer was excellent today. He gets beat by two shots that are tipped, the first off a Colorado stick, and then that bad-luck garbage in overtime. He was easily the better of the two goaltenders as Fleury was flying around and giving up fat rebounds left and right. Fleury got the win, Grubauer got the loss. Sports are cruel and unfair. But really, Grubauer looked great today for my money and I think he’s going to make a very real Vezina Trophy push. He just needs Vasilevskiy in Tampa Bay to calm the hell down a bit if he wants to be the first Avs goaltender to win the Vezina.