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Colorado Avalanche: Fault in Their Stars

By Nadia Archuleta

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Why did the Colorado Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars, thus sweeping the five-game series?

I do not know. They did not deserve to win the game, at least not throughout most of the play. After two periods of play, they had exactly seven shots on goal while the Stars had 24. They were down 2-1. Yeah, it was one of those games.

Crazy Third Period

I can’t say the Avalanche exactly came on like gangbusters in the third period. They were certainly better.  Of course, they started out the period by going down 3-1. They crawled back to tying the game with goals from veteran winger Jarome Iginla and defenseman Nate Guenin.

You read that right — Nate Guenin’s goal tied the game. In fact, he also earned two assists in the game — and the first star of the night.

Then the Avalanche gave away the lead by letting Dallas left wing Antoine Roussel sweep up the ice on a breakaway — which goalie Semyon Varlamov proceeded to flub. No joke, he seemed to make the initial save, but the puck dribbled right past him and into the net.

The goal came at the midway point of the third period, and the other goalie, the Stars’ Kari Lehtonen, earned an assist on the play. It really seemed like it was going to be one of those nights. Pizza night, a night when the Avs just can’t get out of their own way.

Then, sure enough, Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog failed to get out of the way. However, it worked in the Avs’ favor as he tipped in defenseman Tyson Barrie‘s shot. NHL.com twitter account had this sly comment to make:

Both teams got very cautious for the final six minutes of the game. Both teams so clearly wanted at least the one point that going into overtime would afford them. Both are desperately fighting to be even bubble teams, you see.

Slanted Overtime and Shootout

Shots were even in the overtime at three apiece, but that didn’t tell the tale. The Stars seemed to have just a little bit more step — play was more in the Avalanche’s zone than in the Stars zone. Nonetheless the Avalanche held on, and they went into the shootout.

Varlamov is top-10 as a shootout goalie — #7, to be exact. He has a .700 save percentage and five wins in the shootout. Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen is 51st on the list. To put that in perspective, Avalanche rookie goalie Calvin Pickard is above Lehtonen on the list. To put it in real perspective, Colorado backup goalie Reto Berra is above Lehtonen on the list. With his .667 save percentage, he’s only won one game in the shootout.

He did not add to that against the Avalanche. The first Avalanche shooter, Ryan O’Reilly, scored a shootout goal. The Avalanche’s other two shooters, Matt Duchene and Alex Tanguay, didn’t connect with the back of the net, but it didn’t matter. Varlamov stopped all three Dallas shooters and earned the Colorado win.

No Nathan MacKinnon?

Going into the third period, head coach Patrick Roy shortened his bench. He started rolling only three lines. Not surprisingly, fourth line forwards Marc-Andre Cliche and Daniel Briere were on the short end of that stick. Surprisingly, so was wonder-kid Nathan MacKinnon.

That’s right, the hero from just two games ago, one of only two players to score against the Nashville Predators, ended up sitting on the bench for the majority of the third period. He played only 1:48.

Speculation ran rampant about whether MacKinnon was benched or was injured. At first Denver Post writer Mike Chambers stated he hadn’t even noticed the lack of MacK on the ice. However, he apparently found a way to get his answer:

As Chambers pointed out, MacKinnon had no shots through two periods. However, with the team only having seven shots on goal at that point… why bench the wonder-kid, the hero from the last two games?

So, all in all, the Colorado Avalanche game against the Dallas Stars was perplexing. They won the game because they found the back of the net one more time than the Stars did. But why?

Nonetheless, here in Avs Nation, we’ll take it.

Next: TBT: Duchene's Hat Trick vs Dallas Stars

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