Fleury slams the door shut on an Avalanche series victory

The four-game series between the two favorites from the West Division finished much as it started – with an opportunistic Vegas team finding enough offense and then turning the keys over to highlight-machine Marc-Andre Fleury.

The first game of the series was a 1-0 Vegas win in which the Avs played a sloppy, disjointed game where Fleury made no mistakes and shut down the Avalanche.

The fourth game of the series was a 3-0 Vegas win in which the Avs played a sloppy, disjointed game where Fleury made no mistakes and shut down the Avalanche. The big difference this time was the Avs actually created quite a bit of quality scoring chances but their execution was poor throughout and Fleury’s execution was flawless.

A 34-save shutout was the ultimate story of the night as Robin Lehner’s ongoing injury issues continue to be a blessing in disguise for the Golden Knights as Fleury’s renaissance season continues.

It was a fascinating four-game set between the two teams but it ended the same as it began. Vegas has a four-point lead on the Avs in the standings, Colorado has a game in hand, and enough head-to-head games remain that each could still gain the upper hand in the always-important head-to-head category.

Both goalies were great throughout the series but Philipp Grubauer had the weakest performance of the series tonight and even that comes with the caveat that the defense in front of him did him no favors and he got unlucky in the puck luck department.

The other star of the night was Vegas forward Alex Tuch, whose highlight-reel goal on Saturday in which he spun Nazem Kadri into oblivion almost stole the show, scored two goals and provided the only offense needed in this game.

The first of Tuch’s goals came after a very questionable call against Conor Timmins, who was called for tripping despite replays appearing to show the linesman did most of the tripping and Timmins made the mortal sin of being nearby while wearing the opposing team’s jersey.

Tuch ripped through Colorado’s neutral zone PK set up and beat Grubauer with a slick move to give Vegas the 1-0 lead.

It was all they needed but he wasn’t done, as just minutes later he beat Cale Makar and threw a weak backhand at Grubauer, who stopped it. The rebound, however, hit Bowen Byram and trickled into the net. Given it was also Byram’s stick that Tuch’s Lake Tahoe goal went in off of, Byram has now scored two NHL goals on behalf of Alex Tuch and zero of his own so far. The NHL be like that sometimes.

An insurance goal came a bit later as Jonathan Marchessault snapped a wrister that beat Grubauer five-hole on easily the weakest goal either goalie gave up in the four-game series.

The Avs were sloppy and disengaged early and a more focused third period wasn’t nearly enough. They got beat by a very good team who clearly did not want to see the Avs even with them in the standings. This was a low-key important game and for Vegas to get the win shows Colorado they still have a lot of work to do to climb back into the division race.

TAKEAWAYS

• This was a mess for the defense up and down the lineup. The shot share numbers looked good for some guys but the eyes were saying something totally different and then other guys had bad numbers and that tracked pretty well. We’re not used to Cale Makar getting beat defensively like he did a couple of times tonight. It was especially jarring to see Tuch beat Makar wide on the second goal. Good break for Tuch with the puck just bouncing in off Byram but Makar’s feet are usually the thing that keep forwards from getting to the outside and able to cut in like Tuch did. A rarity so far in Makar’s young career.
• These are the bumps with a teenager in your lineup, too. Bowen Byram is feeling the grind of playing in the best league in the world now and he’s working through the adjustments and finding ways to succeed. I certainly won’t come down hard on him for another iffy night but it is a reminder that this is a tough league for even the most talented of players and it’s going to take a little time for Byram’s game to find that groove. That he’s even surviving at the level he is when he’s having an off night is reason to believe there’s a special player there and other teams are biding their team until he comes out. It was fun seeing him not take any nonsense from Alex Pietrangelo in the third period. He’s a confident young man.
• Going 2-2 against Vegas in this situation is probably a small win for the Avalanche. They had a major advantage back in Vegas with Colorado’s injury issues and then outdoor games are a total coin flip. The only “normal” game of this entire series was tonight and Fleury put on a downright show as the Avs played their worst game since coming back.
• Colorado has a real bottom-six problem. Right now the 56-game point paces for their bottom players:
  1. Compher: 7
  2. Nichushkin: 11
  3. Donskoi: 37
  4. Jost: 4
  5. Calvert: 7
  6. Bellemare: 0
• That’s a huge problem. You aren’t asking for your bottom-six forwards to be world-beaters even drive the bus for you. But right now, offensively, they are a collective black hole. A bunch of those guys were on career-high paces last year before the season shutdown and their success was a major reason the Avs could flip the switch and blow teams out. This year, the script has flipped and those guys (except Donskoi and Nichushkin) are now on pace for the worst seasons of their careers. That’s not something you can reasonably plan for but if it continues, some other guys need to start getting looks.
• It’s hard for me to come up with a ton of unique takes on a night where the team as a whole played poorly and then was also on the receiving end of great goaltending against them. It’s a perfect storm. It’s a bit of a concern, however, that they’ve been shutout twice in a week by the team most view as their primary competition for West Division supremacy. Not something too scary, but a concern.
• Tough night for Philipp Grubauer. Reminded me of the first game of the season. Avs hung him out to dry for the first couple goals and then he gave up a weaker one as the dagger to really put things away. He still played a solid game but the ever so slight drop in the quality of his play was not matched by his opposition.