Colorado Avalanche Finally Play 3 Periods

The Colorado Avalanche scored a crucial victory at home last night against the Florida Panthers. It wasn’t always pretty, but the Avs pulled through by playing three periods of hard hockey.

Whew.

The same night as a Wild win, with Calvin Pickard getting his second straight start, and the Avs coming off two losses in which they were tied or ahead going into the third- it was a big night. But the Avalanche got it done! Granted it wasn’t pretty, the 20 shots on net during the third period by the Panthers is a little troublesome, but we’ll talk about how that third period was different from others later.

First let’s savor a bit. Let’s savor Gabriel Landeskog making a goal happen single handedly using his strength and speed to get to the net. Let’s relive Matt Duchene’s nasty spin move in the corner to get to the front to bury a puck when the Avs needed it so desperately. And let’s bask in the light that is Mikkel Boedker, so far being everything I hoped he would be-and more.

And finally, let us prostrate ourselves all facing Calvin Pickard, who came to save us just as it seemed no hope was left. When Nathan MacKinnon could not score on a penalty shot, Pickard was there. When Iginla could not beat Luongo 1 on 1 in tight, Pickard was there. When all the Avalanche got tired and started collapsing, Pickard was there.

Ok. I’m done musing, let’s talk some hockey.

Man were the Avs quick last night. Like blazing quick. It was probably the best complete effort we’ve seen from the forwards this year. And it was bolstered noticeably by Shawn Matthias and Mikkel Boedker. In addition, we saw what the young guns can do when they come out and play 100%. Landeskog, Duchene, and MacKinnon all dominated the ice at one time or another. Which is why it’s so frustrating when one (or all) of them decide not to show up for a game.

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Many of you are probably scratching your head thinking “Will, aren’t you pissed that the Avs surrendered 20 third period shots? Aren’t you going to rant and rave and demand Sakic trade away the entire defense?”

And I will answer serenely, “No, I will not do either of those things.”

I have written about the Avs’ third period problems before; I even wrote them a nifty little guide to holding leads in the third. As you may have guessed it does not include giving up 20 shots in a period. But even though the Colorado Avalanche did end up trapped in their defensive zone for most of the third last night, there was something different about their game that made it alright.

Usually when the Avalanche are up and start to go into their shell that eventually leads to their downfall there’s a simple little cycle. It goes: opponent gets 1 full minute of zone pressure, Avalanche get the puck out but are dead tired so dump it immediately, new skaters get on the ice as the opponent is already carrying the puck back into the Avalanche zone ready to pin the Avs again for another minute, repeat.

What I saw last night started the same, the Avs were getting trapped in their zone a lot still. However when they did manage to clear the zone, they were always having at least one player-no matter how dead tired he was- stay and pressure the puck while the others changed. It may not seem like a huge deal, but it helped the Avalanche so much over the course of the third. Instead of a fresh Colorado Avalanche line stepping on the ice to face an attack coming at them with speed, there the sole forechecker was able to make sure the Panthers had to slow the game down to counter attack.

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Heck the Avalanche even took advantage of the Panthers numerous times in creating opportunities of their own. They didn’t convert, but the process is all you can ask for.

At the end of the day it was by no means a perfect game. But with the superb goaltending and abundance of quality offensive chances, it was completely a Colorado Avalanche game.

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