The Colorado Avalanche were never close to losing the first series of the Stanley Cup playoffs, against the Los Angeles Kings. While the first two games each ended in 2-1 victories for the Avs, the Kings never really felt like a competitive opponent. It was Colorado’s own issues that led to such low-scoring games.
Artturi Lehkonen and Logan O’Connor were the goal scorers for the Avs in Game 1, with Nathan MacKinnon having three shots on goal and an assist, cale Makar with four shots and zero points, Gabriel Landeskog with one shot, and Martin Necas with two shots.
Simply put, they just couldn’t find the back of the net to save their lives.
Makar was tied for the team-lead in shots in Game 1. The only other player to reach four shots was Sam Malinski. While Malinski is a fine player, no disrespect to him, it’s just not an ideal situation to have two defensemen lead your team in shots.
Game 2 was a lot better offensively, with Martin Necas, leading the way with five shots and Gabriel Landeskog and MacKinnon right behind with four.
Really, give credit where it’s due. Anton Forsberg was solid in those first two games. While he played almost lights-out, Scott Wedgewood was even better, putting up a save percentage of .950 and goals-against average of just 1.21. If Wedgewood wasn’t putting up incredible numbers, this series could’ve gone a lot differently. He was their saviour.
The Wild and Stars are tied in their postseason series 2-2. The Wild lead the Stars in goals 14-11 through four games. In comparison, the Avalanche led the Kings 13-5. It’s clear that whoever the Avs play in Round 2 is going to be far superior to the Kings.
The Avs finished 3-of-16 on the power play against Los Angeles. While that was fine in terms of beating a team like the Kings, it won’t work against their second opponent of the postseason. Jesper Wallstedt is having an even better postseason than Jake Oettinger, though both goalies could give the Avalanche problems if Colorado doesn’t pick up the pace.
While I have no doubts about Scott Wedgewood’s play, it’s unfair to him to have to rely on him as much as the Avalanche did in the first two games of Round 1. He made some truly acrobatic saves as we’ve seen in the regular season. The Avs need to give him a breather by taking more control in the offensive zone in future rounds of the playoffs. If he continues to bail them out, he’ll continue to get more and more respect, which is good for him.
Avalanche will need a lot of help from stars to pass Stars or Wild
Jason Robertson, leads the Stars with four goals, while Wyatt Johnston has three. If the Stars end up advancing to Round 2, and the Avalanche find their groove and score more consistently, it would bode extremely well for Colorado.
Talking with Brian Sweet, the site expert over at Blackout Dallas, he points out that former Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has been pretty absent in four games: He has just one goal, but four assists.
The Wild have three main scorers of the postseason so far: Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy, and Brock Faber each have three goals.
Sweet also points out that Roope Hintz, who got hurt against the Avalanche in March, has yet to play since then, and could miss the second round if Dallas in fact makes it.
Whoever the Avalanche face in Round 2, they will have to find a rhythm early on to take control. Either opponent could force the series into more than four games, which wouldn’t be the worst thing for the Avalanche—the more experiences they have, the better they’ll be if the find a way to move on.
A lot of hockey is yet to be played, and the Avalanche will be ready for whoever they face.
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