While the Colorado Avalanche couldn’t capitalize on Tyson Jost’s success, the forward scored his first-ever playoff goal.
The Colorado Avalanche lost Game 5, and I’m bummed about it. Yes, I know, the Cinderella rule is in effect — don’ t be high off a win or low off a loss after midnight — but I’m a little bummed.
The Avalanche are facing elimination tomorrow night. I honestly don’t think it will happen, but it could.
Game 5 was miserable. As Avs insider Adrian Dater put it, the players tried to take shortcuts against the Sharks. The were casual in a lot of their puck handling and just flat got outworked a lot of the night — Jared Bednar used that exact word and continued with, “They were more competitive than us tonight.”
Well, one player who did not get outworked, one who never gets outworked, is Tyson Jost. Indeed, the young forward recorded his first playoff goal in the NHL. (He has oodles of playoff goals at other levels — 43 since 2013).
The play happened late in the second period. The hockey had been mucky so far. I know that the Avs weren’t putting their best game forward, but that awful trap was also in play. I just hate how much it slows down the game.
So, Bednar had finally given the extraordinarily hard-working Jost a spot on the second line with Colin Wilson and Alexander Kerfoot. (To be clear, I’m giving props to Bednar, just in case that got missed.) Finally paired with talent closer to his own level, Jost was making plays and looked like a force.
The play started in Colorado’s end. Samuel Girard took possession of the puck and passed it to Jost. He and J.T. Compher drove up the ice. With three Sharks players on him, Jost decided to pass the puck to Compher.
He wasn’t done though. He drove to the net — we all know good things happen when you drive to the net. Compher tossed the puck on net, but San Jose goalie Martin Jones made the save. He coughed up a rebound, though, and Jost was right there:
When you first watch the play, it looks like Jost got his stick on the puck for a deflection. When you watch the replay, though, you see it’s an Alexander Kerfoot special — Jones banked the puck off Jost’s thigh, and it bounced into the back of the net.
Hey, as I always say, the ugly goals count the same as the pretty ones.
During the intermission Jost talked to Pierre McGuire:
McGuire was impressed by the young Tyson, calling him a beast.
Jost has been a beast all playoffs and all season before that. I’m sure if he stays on a skill line like the one from last night, he’ll continue to produce for the Colorado Avalanche.
And we need that tomorrow night as our team faces elimination. If they got outworked in Game 5, they need a hard worker like Jost to set the standard.