Has an NHL season ever turned on a coach’s challenge before?
That’s a bit of hyperbole, but the Avalanche have been scuffling lately and appeared to hit rock bottom Monday night. The Seattle Kraken already had the lead, and turned a Cale Makar misplay near the offensive blue line into a shorthanded goal … until they didn’t.
Colorado successfully challenged that Brandon Tanev interfered with Alexandar Georgiev, and the goal was wiped off the board. And eventually, the Avs started to look more like the team that raced to a 6-0 start this season.
Here are some observations from the 5-1 win at Climate Pledge Arena:
1. Mikko Rantanen scored arguably the most important goal of the season to date to tie the score in the second period. Ross Colton followed with one to put the Avs in front. A common thread between the two?
Colton scored on a rebound at the edge of the crease. Rantanen was in the crease, and between Seattle goalie Joey Daccord and the goal line. The combined distance traveled for the puck on both goals was less than eight feet.
Colorado couldn’t buy a goal on the road after three consecutive shutouts. Shoot the puck, crash the net, bang in a couple of greasy goals and everything changed after that. Rantanen’s goal included a remarkable bit of skill and composure — the puck was up against the side of the net and he pulled it back towards himself in heavy traffic. Colton’s goal was the first scored by the second power-play unit this season.
2. It was a long couple of days for the Avalanche after an embarrassing 8-2 loss at home against St. Louis. The first period against Seattle did not look like a step in the right direction.
During the first intermission, it was justified to wonder if the Avs have a Kraken problem. Colorado generated just six shots on goal, two scoring chances and zero high-danger chances in the first period. The Avs’ expected goals for after 20 minutes was 0.13, per Natural Stat Trick. That’s not only the worst this season for Colorado, it’s one of the lowest outputs for any team in a period.
The Avalanche’s two worst games this season at generating expected goals for were the first two times these teams played. Colorado’s ability to generate offense improved after the first period, but the Avs are also probably not going to mind being done with the Kraken for the remainder of the regular season, at least.
3. It was a dud at the offensive end in the opening period, but the message from coach Jared Bednar and the players since the loss to the Blues was all about competing, and the play at the other end of the ice. Other than the sequence that led to the disallowed goal, there did appear to be real progress on both of those fronts.
The Kraken had one good sequence that led to the opening goal, but otherwise the defensive play in front of Georgiev was pretty good early in this one and got better as it went on.
4. Jonathan Drouin and Tomas Tatar were key offensive depth additions in the offseason. They are both off to slow starts, but Artturi Lehkonen’s absence has enhanced Colorado’s need for more from them.
Tatar had two assists, but also three shots on goal. It was his second game in an Avs uniform with more than one. Drouin scored his first goal for the club, on a feed from Nathan MacKinnon. If both of them can be more consistently impactful, it’d be a huge boost.
5. Sam Girard and Josh Manson missed this game because of injuries. That meant an NHL debut for Sam Malinski and an Avs debut for Caleb Jones. Neither looked out of their depth. Both were on the ice for a Colorado goal but none against.
The Avs weren’t going to get through 82 games with just six defensemen. Getting competent efforts from the depth guys when needed is a pretty big deal.
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