Colorado Avalanche Allegedly Play Hockey, Lose 5-1 to Golden Knights

The Colorado Avalanche came into Game 4 turning around the mistakes they made the last two. Now they’re tied going back home. A grab bag of moments from Game 4.

I have never seen a team play such a frustrating playoff game as I did as the Colorado Avalanche did tonight.

Not any preliminary Golden Knights Western champions merchandise sale, not any tweet from the most frustrating of Twitter accounts the Vegas Golden Knights, not that Ryan Reaves and Max Pacioretty were both playing this game instead of being suspended, not that Nazem Kadri was given a suspension by a Head of Player Safety who has zero clue what he’s doing, not Pete DeBoer complaining about everything, not the terrible reffing in this series, all put together, can match how frustrating the Avs were tonight.

After starting the series with a lethal 7-1 win, the team basically quit and left the series to Philipp Grubauer.

The One Avs Goal

Brandon Saad got the scoring started a minute and 50 seconds in. Remember that? Remember the Avalanche having the lead?

Saad took a pass from JT Compher from the right, finding an open area while Fleury was distracted. Only being outshot 2-0, the Avalanche took a lead very early on.

Then everything fell apart.

The Avalanche turned over the puck every chance they got in the neutral zone, at times when they did manage to get the puck close to the Vegas net, they held on for too long. Only Cale Makar really showed a great amount of speed, but like the rest of the team, there was no finish. The players basically gave up every time they got a few shots on net, and inevitably Vegas would give a barrage of shots and end up scoring.

Jonathan Marchessault ended up with a hat trick, Pacioretty got a goal, and William Karlsson ended up with three assists. The Vegas Golden Knights got a goal they shouldn’t have got. Cale Makar got a penalty he shouldn’t have got.

The Colorado Avalanche played like sh*t for three games in a row, and it caught up to them.

The NHL Wants Vegas to Win, and There’s Nothing You Can Do About It

I can’t write this since but my tweets from earlier sum it up.

Somehow Makar touching another Vegas player is interference. Hilarious, refs.

Bernie’s Good Boy of the Game

More from Mile High Sticking

The Bernie’s Good Boy of the Game goes to the player who played the best for the Avs this game. Not many players played good for the Avs, so Brandon Saad and his goal get the Bernie Good Boy of the Game. He also had some moments in the third, the best part of his second line.

Dunce Cap of the Game

Nemeth.

Looking to Game 5

The Colorado Avalanche need to bench Patrik Nemeth.

Allowing turnovers for two goals and getting an unneeded penalty, as well as being completely off his game for the entire playoffs, it’s time to put in Bo Byram or Jacob MacDonald. It’s happened way too many times, and at an important point in the series, the Avs need to put one of those two in.

The same can be said for Carl Soderberg and Kiefer Sherwood. Despite Soderberg’s goal in Game 3, it’s just not working. Alex Newhook and Sampo Ranta were a perfect combo games ago, and putting them in can bring out what worked for the Avalanche in Game 1.

Overall, the main thing to take from the last three games is consistency. Every player other than Grubauer has been terrible. They’re getting outshot, they’re turning over every puck in the neutral zone, and they don’t take advantage of opportunities.

They have two more chances at home to make it right.

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