The Avalanche keep thinking they can take shortcuts after success, but playoff hockey doesn’t work that way

SAN JOSE, Calif. – This, truly, is the last thing I thought I’d be quoting from the mouth of Jared Bednar after this Game 5 of the Western semifinals with the San Jose Sharks:

“They outworked us,” Bednar said. “They were more competitive than us tonight.”

And this, folks, is the one thing still keeping the Avalanche from entering the truly elite, Big Boys’ Club of the NHL. This nagging, annoying, frustrating thing the Avs still do after some success. Taking the foot off the gas, not going for the jugular, taking a breather – whatever cliche works for you – the Avs keep doing it just when it seems like they are really going to get to the next level.

Outworked and out-competed in a Game 5 of a playoff series, to a truly alarming degree? Really?

There’s just no excuse for that, not at this stage, not against this opponent. Don’t be fooled by the final score of this one. Only one player – Philipp Grubauer – kept this game from being a blowout on the puck line (that’s any team that wins by two or more goals, in the gambling parlance.

Watching the game’s first 10 minutes, even Mr. Cynical Me was stunned at how truly passive the Avs looked out there. This is a Sharks team that could have been put on the brink by a younger, faster team. The only thing missing, apparently, was the hunger.

No excuse for that, none at all.

The Avs were outshot 39-22 by San Jose. Colorado’s shot totals for the three periods were 6-9-7. Let’s not just make this a total rip job on the Avs here; the Sharks have three great defensemen in Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. They have a head coach, Pete DeBoer, who is very good at devising schemes to slow down faster opponents. San Jose knows how to muck up the neutral zone, knows how to make adjustments, and they sure did in this one.

But the Avs’ absolute lack of urgency in their game in that first period, to me, was the most stunning thing. The Avs just fancy-dan’d it on zone entries, casually holding the puck out there for Sharks D-men to easily poke it away. After doing such an excellent job of getting pucks deep, making the older Sharks D turn and have to make plays under pressure, the Avs seemed to think they could take a bunch of shortcuts again and have an easy time of it.

After doing the same things in Games 1 and 3, you would have thought the Avs would have learned how you can’t play like that against San Jose. MacKinnon, earlier in the day, in fact said, “We found out the hard way in Game 3 that the way we played wasn’t going to work. The way we had success was being good with the puck and in transition. They have such good D and such good forwards that if you turn it over, they’re going to make us pay, like they did in Game 3. We know what it takes and we’re going to be patient.”

And then he and his teammates went out and totally did the opposite, again.

I don’t know who to blame for why this keeps happening, this seeming “Let’s take a breather now guys, we’re good” problem this team still has. Bednar doesn’t seem to me like the type who fosters such an atmosphere. He’s always – always – talking about the hard-working aspects of the game, things like “checking with your legs, not your eyes” or “supporting the puck.”

For this game, at least, I have to place much of the blame, probably, on the top guys. The top line just didn’t set a great example out there, especially at the start. The three of them combined for five shots on net. Thomas Hertl had eight by himself.

The Avs get another shot at redemption Monday night. In the two games they have won, they came in behind in the series and flat-outworked the Sharks. In the three games they lost, when they could afford to lose, they didn’t work.

You think they get that point by now?

Look, it’s been a fun run in these playoffs. This team has made another step up the ladder. Last year, they surprised and made the playoffs. This year, while it wasn’t easy, they got in again and won a round for the first time in 11 years. That’s progress.

But, geez, I have a feeling this team is going to really be kicking itself if they lose a series like this and the difference came down to hard work. With all the upsets this year, the Avs have a real chance at getting into the Cup Finals. I mean, grab it now if you can. No need to wait “your turn.”

The opportunity is there.

But which team really, really wants it the most? After this disappointing effort in Game 5, the answer to that question appears to be: the San Jose Sharks.

OTHER NOTES, OBSERVATIONS, ETC.

• Matt Calvert was a scratch again because of an upper-body injury. He skated in the morning and nothing seemed amiss. It’s unknown whether his injury is related to the previous one, but you have to think it probably is. Jared Bednar hinted there would be a lineup change, and this was it. Calvert obviously was a loss, as his veteran toughness is a big asset in the playoffs. Sven Andrighetto replaced him and didn’t do a whole lot.
• Tyson Jost’s second-period goal was his first of the postseason. The puck went in off his leg to give the Avs a brief 1-0 lead.
• You gotta dance with who brung ya, I suppose, but if I’m Bednar I give some consideration to changing some personnel on the power-play units. It’s just not getting the job done right now. If anything, the Avs’ PP is doing more to fire up the opposition and their crowd than helping themselves. Maybe more Cale Makar on the first unit, maybe a bit less Sam Girard? I like Makar’s snappy puck movement and decision-making. That’s what an effective power play is all about – fast movement. Girard, and Tyson Barrie for that matter, have been a little too casual at the point with the puck.
• I asked about the power play, whether changes need to be made, after the game and Bednar said this: “One of the changes has to come with our mindset. We gotta get in attack mode. We gotta move the puck and shoot the puck. It’s happening too slow. We’re too stationary. We’re not shooting. We went through a handful of power plays, with time in the offensive zone, and no one’s willing to take a shot to open things up at all. Right now, they’re dictating what we’re doing.”
• Philipp Grubauer, on that fracas with Joe Thornton in the third period, a sequence that finished with Nikita Zadorov getting a two-minute minor for roughing – a really bad call, I thought: “It’s playoff hockey. That’s all I can say. I pushed him, he pushed me. It happens in hockey.”
• Bednar wasn’t happy with the call, saying, essentially, that Zadorov was just trying to stop a guy from flying into the fracas, but got unfairly called for “clotheslining him” when it wasn’t with that kind of intent. I agree. It was a bad call, and Thornton should have gone to the box for cross-checking a goalie, too.
• The Avs will stay in San Jose overnight. They won’t say it, but one of the reasons, I think, is because management felt the team was too tired getting back to their homes at 3 or 4 in the morning after Game 2 and it hurt their energy in Game 3. I know what you’re saying, after this column: what was the excuse for this one? I’m just the messenger here.