Philipp Grubauer steals the show and Game 2 for the Avalanche

Throughout the course of this regular season, a lot of talk surrounding the Colorado Avalanche centered on the concept of the “kinds of games” that championship teams win. It was overblown a bit but it was interesting to watch the Avalanche evolve as the year went on as they kept checking the boxes.

Watching the defending Stanley Cup champions last night, the Tampa Bay Lightning, sneaking out a win from the Carolina Hurricanes in a game in which they were outshot and outplayed for long stretches, I couldn’t help but think about the Avalanche and how that’s the kind of game they almost never play.

Following the Game 1 demolition of Vegas, the entire hockey world knew the Golden Knights were going to come out with a better performance in Game 2. It took a while for it to build, but it eventually got there.

The first period was a special teams-laden affair as five penalties were called, four against Vegas, and the Avs built a 2-1 lead on goals from Brandon Saad and Tyson Jost.

Things looked pretty normal after the first intermission buzzer but somewhere in the second period the Golden Knights found their game and Colorado lost their way a little bit.

It was a total pendulum swing, not unlike what we saw in Game 2 of Colorado’s series against the St. Louis Blues. The difference was the lead Colorado built over the Blues was enough to sustain and the Golden Knights tied the game when Reilly Smith took advantage of a miscommunication between Ryan Graves and Sam Girard to break into the zone alone and he beat Philipp Grubauer.

A tie game after two, the Avs never found their legs in period three and Vegas continued imposing their will, hitting multiple posts and watching Grubauer play the kind of game people have not been sure he was capable of.

That’s where tonight’s game really amped up its importance, not just in the micro of the series, but in the macro of what it could mean moving forward.

Arguably the biggest doubt about the Avalanche this season has been their goaltending, especially in the postseason where Grubauer is unproven next to the hardware-filled career of his counterpart, Marc-Andre Fleury.

This is how a goaltender becomes proven, however. Nights like this one, where the team in front of him is misfiring on multiple cylinders and the opposing team has found their game and is coming in waves.

Intermission, penalties, raucous crowd noise, nothing slowed down the Vegas Golden Knights. They were going to tie this series tonight, that much was clear. They were on a mission.

Grubauer refused to budge.

39 saves on 41 shots later, Grubauer watched the rest of the Avs take advantage of their sixth PP opportunity of the game just minutes into overtime. Mikko Rantanen snapped one top-shelf past Fleury to give Colorado the 3-2 win, pushing the series to 2-0 Colorado.

The Avs head to Vegas knowing that if they just manage a split on the road, they’ll be back home next week with a chance to close the league’s most anticipated series out in front of their home crowd.

If Grubauer continues to play the way he did tonight, Vegas may not see Denver again until next season.

TAKEAWAYS

• Vegas beat the Avs up in most very facet tonight and still lost. That’s an important distinction because in the 10 games these two clubs have played this season, Vegas has absolutely dominated just two of them…and lost both. Grubauer rose to the occasion both times and outdueled Fleury. It will be interesting to see how Grubauer’s play goes in this series because right now he’s playing at a legitimate Conn Smythe-winning level. It’s that special.
• This was the first game where Alex Newhook looked legitimately out of place. Combined with poor performances from Sampo Ranta, who looks completely lost in general, and P.E. Bellemare, who was just bad tonight after a forgettable Game 1, there’s a cause for concern with this group. How much are the Avs missing Matt Calvert and Logan O’Connor right now? Can’t help but feel like those two would be the energizer batteries we’ve seen Bellemare need at times this season to kickstart his own game. Newhook and Ranta have been given a ton of responsibility even being allowed in the lineup at all. We’ve seen better from Newhook so I’m not particularly worried there but Ranta hasn’t done anything yet except look like he’s overwhelmed, especially defensively, and has been a total non-factor with the puck. Newhook has been a slight disappointment but it’s only slight. Getting O’Connor back would really help right this ship. The Avs are already bleeding up front with the Nazem Kadri suspension. They do not want to continue giving up chances when the fourth line hits the ice.
• Kadri’s absence is being papered over by the Tyson Jost line playing up but they got devoured at 5v5 tonight. Not that any line really did a great job but Jost’s line clearly cannot handle the William Karlsson matchup long-term. Heading into Vegas, this is something I would look Pete DeBoer to continue trying to push as he gains the advantage with the second change at home. How Jost’s line handles that likely will go a very long way towards determining how Games 3 and 4 turn out.
• Speaking of Jost, this breakout of his just might be real. In the past, we’ve seen him have a nice five games or so and then go right back to struggling again but this one not only feels different, it is different…so far. Going back to late March and including Colorado’s first six postseason games, Jost has 18 points in his last 34 games. That’s a 43-point pace across an 82-game season. Onus is on Jost to keep it up but that production is almost entirely at even strength and with him averaging right about 14 minutes per game. It’s an impressive stretch for Jost. For comparison (they’ve largely been linemates the entire time), Valeri Nichushkin has scored 14 points in that same timeframe. An interesting wrinkle to keep an eye on as the Avs continue on.
• Conor Timmins, very underrated game. Some iffy spots with the puck and whiffed on a great scoring chance but overall moved the puck in an efficient manner that Sam Girard and Ryan Graves would’ve killed for tonight (despite Girard’s two assists).
• Not an Avalanche-related thought, but best wishes to Jake Evans. The hit from Mark Scheifele at the end of the Habs-Jets game was wholly unnecessary, predatory, and very dangerous. Whatever the league does, I just hope Evans is okay. That looked incredibly scary and his well-being has been in the back of my mind all night.