Avalanche fails to show late-game heroics in 5-3 loss to Dallas

The Colorado Avalanche traveled to Dallas over Thanksgiving and were hoping to secure a W on Black Friday in the two teams’ first regular-season game since their playoff series last postseason. A third-period comeback ultimately led to a 5-3 loss as the Avalanche will look for a better result tomorrow in the second half of this back-to-back holiday weekend.

The game

Starts have been a problem for the Avalanche this season. They started this contest with plenty of bounce, but a questionable penalty on Nikolai Kovalenko led to the Stars striking first and the Avalanche falling behind early once again. The goal came at the end of a pretty good penalty shootout for the Avalanche. Dallas got the puck at that point and threw a softball into the net that Alexandar Georgiev fired into the slot. Normally this would be a terrible play for any goaltender, but the Stars had a player positioned on either side of the Avalanche net and Josh Manson was sitting alone in front of his goalie. Manson wasn’t prepared for the puck to come his way, and Mason Marchment was able to pounce on the play and pass it to Tyler Seguin, who scored the equalizer.

Colorado got a questionable call in its favor when Wyatt Johnston fended off Mikko Rantanen, who was passing the Avalanche net. Because ice hockey is a cruel sport and the Avalanche would also score points with their less than deserved power play. Rantanen got a yellow brick road on Jake Oettinger and beat him on the blocker side. There was some bad luck when the shot hit the iron, but Rantanen threw the puck out of the air straight to Val Nichushkin, who trashed it, ending the game.

Big mistakes have plagued the Avs all year. It would be a big mistake to pinch Sam Girard and not get coverage help to give the Stars a two-on-one duel. Georgiev was able to stop the initial onslaught, but the Stars took several hits until Mason Marchment deflected the ball off Georgiev’s foot and pushed it in. After 20 minutes of play, the score was 2-1 for Dallas.

This took the wind out of the Avs’ sails for quite a while and continued into the second period.

Dallas controlled the entire middle frame. They won puck battles and made life hell for the Avalanche. It was a struggle for Colorado to string together two passes in the offensive zone. This was not the case with the stars. They would score two goals and extend their lead to 4-1. The first came from Jamie Benn after he gave the Stars the lead following a failed rush that gave him a wide lead to eliminate a rebound. Then the Stars got another questionable power play that resulted in a Roope Hintz goal as the Avalanche killed a pretty weak penalty. During this time, the Avalanche also lost Josh Manson, who left the game after appearing to injure his hand or arm while hitting the boards. The team later announced he would not be returning.

Things were looking pretty bleak for the Avalanche when the puck dropped in the third period. The mood turned darker when Jake Oettinger made a great attempt to rob Cale Makar early in the frame, but life was breathed into the Avs just minutes later. Oettinger’s big save was followed by a fairly soft goal from Artturi Lehkonen, which shot through the Dallas goalkeeper’s wicket.

The Avs got the early goal they needed to give them hope, but there is always hope when you have Cale Makar on your team. It’s hard to describe what Cale Makar did to set up Mikko Rantanen for the Avs’ third goal, so I’ll leave it to what the beneficiary of Cale Makar’s magic seemingly said: “Holy shit. That was fucking awesome.” (apologies to any impressionable readers).

Colorado had a chance to tie the game with an empty net and even won the faceoff after pulling Georgiev. That chance was thwarted almost immediately when Nathan MacKinnon sent a rushed pass over Cale Makar’s stick to Mason Marchment, who then fired the puck into an empty net, ending the game in this 5-3 Dallas final.

Takeaways

It was a mixed bag for the Avalanche, though not necessarily bad for Colorado. They had great moments. They controlled the game and were able to hold their own, but there was no staying power and that was the problem. Most of the teams’ chances were one-offs and they constantly struggled to control the puck.

They also had some massive slumps that resulted in goals conceded by the Stars. This heatmap from Natural Stat Trick gives a pretty damning look at what went wrong for Avalanche in this game. It’s been a problem for her all year. They don’t defend well in front of their net. Especially when it comes to rebounds. Teams constantly get second, third, and even fourth attacks on the puck, and eventually those pucks go in. I don’t think Georgiev was outstanding tonight, but his team just couldn’t help him.

Nat Stat Trick

To get the negative out of the way, both Casey Mittelstadt and Nathan MacKinnon were terrible tonight. Both had good plays that led to a goal for the Avalanche, but also had inexcusable plays that went in the opposite direction. Casey Mittelstadt lost his man on Dallas’ third goal, allowing Miro Heiskanen to fire the shot that Jamie Benn would eventually clear. On the second Dallas goal, Nathan MacKinnon penetrates the zone after Sam Girard has already done so, leading to an oddball rush and the Mason Marchment goal. When the Avs need him late in the game for pulling out the goalie, he panics at the point and fires a wobbly pass to Cale Makar, which bounces over Makar’s stick straight to Marchment, who scores. The two on either side are not good enough.

On the bright side, Cale Makar was as incredible as we saw him tonight. Unfortunately for him, it feels like we’ve seen some of his best games fall by the wayside too often this year. Often due to a lack of help from his fellow superstars. He was dominant defensively and offensively. He drove the game forward, controlled possession when no one else could, and broke up plays in his own court. What more can you ask for?

Soon

Tomorrow evening the Colorado Avalanche will face the Edmonton Oilers. Edmonton defeated the Utah Hockey Club 4-3 in OT tonight. Puck drop takes place at 8:00 p.m. MST. Mile High Hockey is here for you.