Life without Mikko Rantanen is going to require adjustment for the Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche had an early puck drop today against the Boston Bruins immediately after the bomb of the Mikko Rantanen trade last night. Now without the star forward, the Avs continued their offensive issues in a 3-1 loss to the Bruins.

It feels like two more points that got away from them as they had a 1-0 lead going into the third period but their top defensive pairing of Devon Toews and Cale Makar made critical mistakes early in the third period that resulted in goals against.

Artturi Lehkonen got Colorado’s only goal of the game as the new-look Avalanche top line was great in generating shots and chances but couldn’t convert any of them into actual goals.

Let’s talk about another frustrating loss for the Avs.

New Avs players predictably struggle in debuts

Martin Necas and Jack Drury got to Boston and joined the Avs shortly before the early afternoon puck drop. Because of the early game, the two new guys didn’t even have a morning skate to work with new linemates or have extensive looks at any of the Avalanche systems, which are quite a bit different from Carolina’s.

Necas slotted into Rantanen’s old spot on Nathan MacKinnon’s right wing with Jonathan Drouin and they played quite well in their generation of chances but you could see the discomfort of the adjustments taking place on the fly. Rantanen, a left-handed power forward with an elite shot, has been next to MacKinnon for so long that MacKinnon showed it was going to take some time to get comfortable next to the right shot of Necas.

They managed to do some work together and showed glimpses of what should be a dangerous top line in time, but they weren’t quite on the same page enough to finish any of those chances.

Drury’s job was a bit easier as a defensive center coming in. He was being tasked primarily with winning faceoffs and keeping the puck out of his own net. He was on the ice for a goal against and won under 50% of his draws, so it wasn’t an ideal debut for the nephew of old-school Avalanche favorite Chris Drury.

It’s a tough ask for both newcomers to slot into the lineup with zero preparation and then have to do it again tomorrow in New York, but that’s the world they’re in right now. Game one wasn’t a complete bust, but it wasn’t what either of them were hoping for either.

Avs waste great defensive effort

Through the first 40 minutes of the game, the Avs were dominating the Bruins with their best defensive effort of the season. They allowed just eight shots on goal, six scoring chances, and zero high-danger chances.

Had Colorado’s finishing been better, they would have likely had an easy third period cruise to a victory. Instead, they walked in with a one-goal lead that immediately evaporated and turned into a one-goal deficit.

Even the third period wasn’t a disaster class or anything, but the breakdowns were bad. The second Bruins goal was a total miscommunication between Necas and Toews as David Pastrnak was skating out from behind the net with the puck and Necas went to cover him. Toews saw only the puck and drifted over there despite not needing to and left the backdoor open. Pastrnak’s pass across the crease hit Morgan Geekie, who was alone in the space vacated by Toews, and that was the game-winning goal. Simple as that.

It’s tough to lose a game where you only allow two high-danger chances against. It’s tough to lose a game when you only allow 15 shots on goal. That’s one of Colorado’s best defensive efforts of the season, but because their offense couldn’t get untethered from neutral, it ends up wasted.

Game management sucks

I’m not going to spend a ton of time here on the officiating because it wasn’t a major factor in the game, but it was also a low-event game where not a ton happened so it opened the door for me to be annoyed with it.

With the Avs trailing 2-1 in the third period, Colorado had enjoyed two power play chances that they predictably wasted but had no penalties called against them.

Because the Bruins were leading and the Avs had all of the PP chances, it wasn’t a huge surprise to see Boston given a ton of leeway as it got later into the third period. Josh Manson was slashed on the hands with the puck (allowing us to throw away the perception that it gets called “100% of the time” when the stick is on the hands) and, most notably, Ross Colton got smoked by Brad Marchand despite neither touching or being all that close to the puck.

NHL officiating tries to keep things as even as possible while also avoiding calling penalties late in games unless they absolutely have to. This means the Avs were done getting non-automatic calls and the Bruins were free to go ham. They did, and the Avs got nothing from it.

This would obviously be a bigger deal if the Avalanche power play had not been in a free fall since December 1, but my real problem is that games continue being policed in this way. It’s predictable and obnoxious. Just call penalties as they exist.