The Colorado Avalanche turned golden opportunities into a loss, which is solely on them as a team.
The Colorado Avalanche dropped Game 5 to the St. Louis Blues.
The Colorado Avalanche are the better team.
The Colorado Avalanche dominated for most of Game 5.
And yet the Colorado Avalanche lost the game in front of their home crowd. They beat themselves. And, frankly, after that performance I would want some of my exorbitant ticket price back in my account. That loss was not ok.
Star Nathan MacKinnon finally made his mark on this series. After being stifled for so much of the series, he broke out in a big way. He imposed his will on the game and came away with a hat trick. The crowd, which had been waiting since Game 4 to celebrate Nazem Kadri‘s hat trick in St. Louis (way to thumb your nose at the hostile crowd), threw all their enthusiasm into cascading hats onto the ice.
In a game where your superstar shines so bright you lose your favorite hat to the home hat trick, you have a right to expect your team to win. Instead, the home crowd and their now cold heads watched the team squander first a three-goal lead and then a late one-goal lead. And lose in overtime.
This loss was a stinker. And there’s plenty of blame to go around.
Mikko, Mikko, wherefore art thou, Mikko? Deny thy overinflated paycheck if you’re not going to produce when it counts. Mikko Rantanen is the highest player on the Colorado Avalanche, and he needs to start earning it in the second round. Heck, the playoffs themselves. One goal and 10 assists in nine games ain’t a bargain at $9 million.
Gabe, babe, I know hockey players don’t like it when fans yell, “Shoot the puck.” But, Captain O Captain, SHOOT THE DANG PUCK AT THE OPEN NET! That game-tying goal came after he just… I don’t know, what’s the opposite of shoot? Held onto the puck until a Blues player relieved him of it.
Darcy Kuemper is not a Stanley Cup goalie. Pray God he pulls a Tyson Barrie on me and proves me wrong after I rag on him. But he put up a stinker of a performance. Really, I get it’s a team game. But if there’s ONE position where a single player can steal the game, it’s goalie. It sure isn’t forward or the Avalanche would have had this game thanks to MacKinnon.
Joe Sakic, I know you were a Hall of Fame player and you have two Stanley Cup rings. You did not get those rings without a Stanley Cup-caliber goalie. Why, for the love of the hockey gods, didn’t you get Mark-Andre Fleury at the deadline? He is a Stanley Cup-caliber goalie. Because Kuemper doesn’t deserve to start in Game 6, but the Colorado Avalanche don’t have a choice thanks to the lack of acquisition.
Jared Bednar. Lack of a Stanley Cup attitude. There, I said it. When a team starts playing so cautiously with a lead, it’s either direction or inspiration from the bench boss.
Lots of other breakdowns in tonight’s game, but those were the glaring ones. Game 6 is a winner-takes-all situation. Because if the Blues manage to force a Game 7, the loss of momentum and ghosts of second rounds past will be too much for the Colorado Avalanche to overcome. And the game is in the hostile St. Louis barn.
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Well, nothing is won on paper. That’s why teams play the games themselves. We just all wish the Colorado Avalanche hadn’t screwed this one up. Please, let me be eating crow and writing a victorious blog in around 48 hours.