The Predators aren't beating the Avalanche, the Avalanche are beating the Avalanche

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – First off, yes, nuts and bolts. The Avalanche got screwed by the referees in these first two games in Nashville. P.K. Subban slide-tackle on Tyson Barrie? No problem, apparently. Pekka Rinne punch to the back of the head of Matt Nieto? That’s OK, but a little shove to Subban’s face after that? Lock him up. A blindside hit to the head of Barrie by Ryan Johansen in Game 1? Perfectly legal, apparently.

But officiating, as it almost never is, wasn’t the main reason the Avs are coming home down two games to none in this playoff series with the Nashville Predators. The Avs lost because they aren’t as good as the Predators. And, because they beat themselves in situations that could have easily been avoided.

The Avs on Sunday kicked pucks into their own net, tried to play with six skaters when only five are allowed, couldn’t stop unobstructed shots from the short side, couldn’t get stick blades on rebounds right in front of the opposing net, couldn’t make easy clearouts and overpassed themselves right out of almost every good power-play opportunity the refs deigned to give them these first 120 minutes of hockey.

That’s why it’s so frustrating right now for the Avs. Even without three of their very best players, they have proven they can play with these supposedly invincible Predators. But they couldn’t stand prosperity when it was there to utilize and expand upon.

And, their coach has had some questionable decisions too. Avs Nation lost their minds when David Warsofsky was named by Jared Bednar as the sixth defenseman before Game 1, instead of Mark Alt. Right before Game 2, the jolting news came down that super-smooth rookie Sam Girard wouldn’t be able to play because of an upper-body injury.

Alt, the right-handed shot D-man who looked perfectly fine his final few regular-season games, would get the nod, right?

Wrong.

Duncan Siemens got it. Siemens went out and did the best he could, but as has too often been the case since he was drafted 11th overall in 2011, that wasn’t good enough. Warsofsky is 5-foot-9, 170 pounds. The Predators average 202 pounds per player. Alt is listed at 6-4, 201. The Avs won their final game of the season with Alt in the lineup and Warsofsky out of it. The Avs are now 0-4-1 with Warsofsky in their lineup the last five games.

It was a puzzling decision before the series to keep Alt out, and it’s even more puzzling now. Warsofsky took a bad holding penalty at 3:37 of the second period Sunday and gave the puck away a couple of times. Warsofsky’s fancy stats didn’t look bad – 12 Corsi events for, eight against at even strength. But he just seems like an uninspired choice to play at this time of year. Is Mark Alt going to be the difference-maker either way for the Avs in a series like this? Almost certainly not. But the fans are mad about this one, and probably have good justification for it.

Bednar needs to up his game overall if the Avs are to get back in this series. For instance: Yeah, it’s traditional thinking, to put the goalie back on the ice for a faceoff at center ice, even after you’ve just scored a goal with him off the ice for the extra attacker.

So, Bednar won’t be criticized by the traditionalists for putting Jonathan Bernier back in net following Alexander Kerfoot’s goal that made it 5-4 with 36 seconds left. But it was time for some non-traditional thinking there. Leave Bernier off the ice for that extra attacker and attack the puck as best you can to get it and get down the ice for that tying goal.

Instead, the Avs lost possession and spent most of the final 36 seconds pinned in their zone on a puck battle behind the net. Bernier could never get himself off the ice again when it mattered. Bednar, at least to my thinking, should have gambled more to get that puck off the center-ice faceoff. An extra attacker might have helped that happen.

The Avs can feel good about themselves for competing so well against a Preds team that maybe isn’t the lock for the Cup as many think. They’ve been pretty good at even strength, despite no Johnson and, now, no Girard. They’ve had the lead for good chunks of the series so far. They’ve had just about every bounce go against them, whether it’s a puck in the net off Patrik Nemeth’s skate or a lucky clearout to center ice following Subban’s tackle of Barrie on what I thought was the key play of the game, that Johansen goal in the second that made it 3-1. That should have been a penalty on Subban for tripping. Instead, it ended up in the back of their net.

“It’s kind of the same story as the other night,” captain Gabe Landeskog said. “We come out and play a real solid first period. But then they score on a power play and then basically get two breakaways and they capitalized on it. Other than that, 5-on-5 we outplayed them. We need to capitalize when we get our chances. We’ve had chances to tie the game up or get a two-goal lead at the start, and we’ve got to find a way to put those pucks in and find a way to keep pucks out when we need to. But we’re going to study the film on this one, get back and take care of business at home.”

They’ll need to, otherwise this will be the final visit of the season to Smashville. They’ll leave here with memories of what a fun town this is, what a great environment for a game this is. They’ll leave town with heads held high for not being the punching bag everyone expected.

But they’ll leave town without what they wanted most, and what was right there for the offing:’

A victory.