Takeaways from Avalanche's overtime loss to Washington

I never like it when my team plays a short-handed opponent. I worry too much that my players will think it’ll be an easier night, drop their effort level a commensurate amount and bad things will happen. That’s just me.

But that’s the kind of performance the Avalanche gave tonight against a Washington Capitals team missing its starting goalie (Braden Holtby), its leading scorer (Evgeny Kuznetsov) and fifth-leading scorer (T.J. Oshie). The Avs seemed to think the Caps would just phone one in, based on their sluggish effort, which finished in a 3-2 overtime loss to Washington.

I thought the Avs essentially just gave this one away through a lack of effort. They were second to too many loose pucks and made too many casual passes that resulted in giveaways. Was it nice to get a point, thanks to a late Colin Wilson goal? Yes it was. They at least came away with something. But the fact is, the Avs deserved to lose.

MORE TAKEAWAYS FROM THE LOSS

• Colin Wilson’s turnover that led to Alex Ovechkin’s tie-breaking goal late in the second period was Exhibit A of what I’m talking about. Wilson turned the puck over in the offensive zone, then went to hit Tom Wilson to try and get it back, but all that did was sent Wilson flying to the ice like a rubber ball off a brick wall. The puck goes from Tom Wilson to Nicklas Backstrom to Ovechkin for the goal. Wilson was 20 feet behind the play by the time the puck was in the net.
• Wilson did find redemption with the tying goal late, batting a puck in from the side of the net that withstood a ridiculous Washington challenge for goalie interference. He set up Matt Calvert with a great pass in the final two minutes too, after coming in down the left side. But Calvert, instead of one-timing a shot on net like he should have, tried to settle it and lost it instead. Down the ice went Devante Smith-Pelly, leaving Ian Cole back by himself. Cole was called for holding Smith-Pelly, which he did. But Smith-Pelly had also been holding Cole with his right arm too. I thought it should have been a no-call. Never good when referees decided a game late like that.
• Don’t pin this loss on Cole. He was on the ice for 15 shots for, three against. He helped make the play that led to Wilson’s tying goal.
• Like many, I didn’t like Nikita Zadorov being a scratch for this one, in favor of Mark Barberio/Patrik Nemeth. I want Big Z in games like this, against big, physical teams like the Caps. Instead, Barberio and Nemeth formed a duo that, while not terrible at all, just were kind of there. I mean, has Zadorov been great this year? No. So, I can see why Jared Bednar did it. But I just think he would have been a better option in this kind of game.
• The Three-Headed Monster Line just didn’t have it tonight. They got beat pretty bad in the puck-possession stats and just couldn’t separate themselves enough from the Caps’ defense. Gabe Landeskog had one of those nights where the puck seemed like a grenade on the stick at times.
• Mikko Rantanen sure looked frustrated toward the end. After a failed shift on a power play in the third period, Rantanen slammed his stick against the boards and yelled a lot. He failed to get a shot on net in his 21 minutes of ice time. Washington’s top guys outplayed Colorado’s top guys. That’s it.
• Another night when, apparently, Washington transplants were more eager to buy good tickets to the game than Avs fans. The lower bowls had an awful lot of red in it. I’m not here to judge, but when you hear cheers that are louder for the visitors, it hurts the home team. Players won’t say it publicly, but it’s true.
• You can’t pin this loss on Philipp Grubauer. I didn’t think any of the goals was much his fault. The Avs got all bunched up in the left corner on Washington’s first goal, leaving the right side exposed and giving Chandler Stephenson lots of time to make a play. The game-winner, by Nicklas Backstrom, was a point-blank wrister from between the circles. Having to defend a 4-on-3 instead of a 5-on-4 is a major difference. The Avs had to collapse down lower, and that left just too much room up top.
• Sam Girard had a rough night. He got killed in puck-possession stats and iced the puck a couple times with bad passes.
• I could look this up, but you catch my drift: When’s the last time the Avs had a good overtime?
• This heat map shows how the Caps were just the more active team around the net, particularly with pucks behind the net for setup plays. The Avs went hard to the net toward the end, when they were desperate, but not enough before that.

• Gabriel Bourque still hasn’t scored a goal on the season, and he took a tripping minor in the second period, as part of his 7 minute, 50 second performance.
• The Avs were outhit 17-11 and were given eight giveaways, officially, on the score sheet. Washington was assessed two giveaways.

QUOTES FROM AVS PR:

QUOTES
Colorado LW Gabriel Landeskog
On The Avs’ Performance: “I think obviously the first 10 of the gameand then the last 10 were really the only positives out of this one tonight. I mean, we were working them, we were fighting our way, trying to get our way back into this one. We were just too sloppy, too tired out there. You know, we looked too spread out and weren’t really supporting each other as well as we have been and we need to, to be successful. Nonetheless, a big point. Yeah, we need more.”

Colorado G Philipp Grubauer
On His Performance: “It was good. I had a couple of chances in the slot, I got to make a save but then
in the end, I think we played unbelievable The last period, shutting them down, scoring a goal. It was
nice to get a game in two weeks or whatever.”
On Playing Against His Former Team: “It’s all business, it doesn’t matter who is on the ice. In terms of
how the game went, I think we had a good start to the game. Obviously, the goal, but then we didn’t
play the way we played the last few games and I think we need to play that way. We showed up in
the last period and we didn’t give them much and that’s how we need to play moving forward – 60
minutes, not just 20 or 15.”