The Colorado Avalanche fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 6-3 Thursday evening, closing out a six-game road trip in the process. The Avs put up a competitive fight, owning a 3-2 lead early in the third period, but were unable to seal the deal after a couple of avoidable defensive lapses. Let’s break it down.
First Period
The opening minutes of the period were extremely lethargic for the Avalanche. They were a step behind on every puck battle and looked like a team at the end of a very long road trip. Remember, the Avs flew out to New York to start this six-game road trip, and haven’t skated on home ice since their January 26 victory over the Los Angeles Kings before the All-Star Break.
The Lightning would get the first powerplay after a cross-check on Josh Manson, and the lethal Bolts powerplay almost struck, as Nathan MacKinnon’s Hart Trophy race counterpart, Nikita Kucherov, struck the iron on a short side shot, but the score would stay even.
Moments after the Lightning powerplay, the Avalanche would get a man advantage of their own. In the middle of the powerplay, Erik Cernak lifted MacKinnon’s stick right into the face of teammate Luke Glendening. The Avs advantage was stalled out by a long review to see whose stick hit Glendening, as there wasn’t a lot of momentum generated.
Between these powerplays, Ross Colton got his tribute for his return to Tampa Bay, playing in his first game inside Amalie Arena as a visitor.
Later on, the Avalanche would break the scoreless tie. The star duo of MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen worked a flawless breakout, and the Lightning forgot all about Bowen Byram, who Rantanen found sneaking backdoor on the Tampa defense and drove the puck past Andrei Vasilevskiy. After the slow start, this got the Avs their spark, and a lead on the road.
Moments later, disaster struck. A Tampa Bay dump-in took an unconventional bounce off of a stanchion in the corner and popped out right in front of Justus Annunen. Samuel Girard attempted a blind-whack of the puck to try and clear the puck, but his clear attempt hit Brayden Point right in the chest and ricocheted into the net.
It would only take 67 seconds for things to go from bad to worse, as some sloppy puck management in their defending zone cost them. The Lightning was able to work the Avs off of multiple pucks, and the result was a Kucherov one-timer uncontested from the low circle. MacKinnon had a brutal shift, losing the initial puck battle that started the chaos, and his coverage of the impending pass-to-goal left some to be desired, but conversely, I didn’t like how Annunen played. It was a tough save no matter what, but it almost looked as if Annunen wasn’t anticipating the pass.
Before I rub anyone the wrong way, I think Annunen had a fine period and made some high-quality saves, but a save on that Kucherov shot would’ve been magical.
It can’t be underestimated how beneficial a victorious opening 20 minutes would’ve been on the final game of the road trip with your prospect netminder between the pipes, but alas, Colorado trailed going into the first intermission once again.
Second Period
The beginning of the second frame was arguably more lethargic than the first period. To start the game it looked like the Avs were a team who couldn’t wait to sleep in their own beds tonight, but in this period everyone was asleep. Nothing of note happened early on.
Tampa Bay would get a powerplay one minute into the contest, but Tampa’s powerplay didn’t generate much on it. It wouldn’t be until about the 12-minute mark of the period, when a pass intended for MacKinnon down low was disrupted by a Lightning defender, and the puck deflected right into MacKinnon’s nose. Blood was leaking from his nose, and he would need to go off for some repairs.
Luckily, he only missed about seven minutes of game time.
Late in the 2nd period, the Avalanche would get a funky goal of their own. After Colton dashed in alone on a mini breakaway, his backhand attempt was stuffed by Vasilevskiy, but somehow, some way, the puck trickled through the Russian netminder, and once again it was Byram, who was the first to find the loose puck in the crease and bang it home.
A 2-2 tie going into the final frame is everything the Avs could’ve asked for, and now with one period to go in the road trip, just empty the tank and try to go home with five of the 12 possible points on this trip.
Third Period
The start of the period was the best of the night for the Avs. Just under two minutes into the frame, Kucherov took an interference penalty on Devon Toews and gave the Avs a chance to create a lead they could try and sit on for 16 minutes.
As time expired on the powerplay, MacKinnon fired a shot from the left half-wall toward the net, and Artturi Lehkonen found the deflection to make the score 3-2 in favor of Colorado. Did anyone else miss Lehky on this top unit as much as I did?
Unfortunately, the Avs were only able to hold onto this lead for an alarming 20 seconds, as they were caught sleeping in the neutral zone and let Bolts captain Steven Stamkos all alone with Annunen, and broke him down like one of the deadliest goal scorers in league history would tend to do, and just like that, the game was even yet again.
About four minutes later, the Lightning would steal back the lead, after another defensive breakdown down low by the Avalanche. Point copied Lehkonen’s between-the-legs pass in Washington Tuesday night, and found Kucherov all alone, who would deposit his second goal and third point of the contest.
Seriously, where was Colton going here? Where was Byram going here? Both of them were SEVERELY out of position for this back-breaking goal, and it’s unfathomable that nearly 60 games into the season these lapses are still occurring.
The Lightning added a pair of empty-net goals in the final minute of the period to inflate the score to 6-3, but regardless the Avalanche close out the road trip a disgusting 1-4-1, and now have a lot of cleanup to do on home ice to tighten up the screws.
This road trip was nothing short of disgraceful.
Yeti Takeaways
The Avalanche continue to have defensive lapses every single game that routinely cost them. You can only hope the first couple of games back on Ball Arena ice will galvanize them, but the effort defensively has been a serious issue for far too long this season, and it’s getting frustrating seeing the same mistakes routinely cost this team.
Kucherov won this battle in the Hart War. He tallied a pair of goals and added an assist for three points on the night, while MacKinnon finished with a pair of assists and (maybe) a broken nose.
Faceoffs continue to be a massive problem and are contributing to some of the defensive lapses they’re committing on a nightly basis. They won 31/72 faceoffs tonight, which is only good enough for 43% accuracy. That’s not considered NHL caliber for an individual center, let alone the whole team. Additionally, at one point in the middle of the game, I checked the box score, and I saw 9/31 or 29%. Simply unacceptable.
Annunen had a rough night on paper, but he’s not at fault for any of these goals in my mind. The 2-1 Kucherov goal is the only goal I look at and think he may want back, but the Avs hung him out to dry all night long. That’s not how you support your goaltender.
Finally, the Lightning debuted new alternate uniforms tonight, and they’re fantastic.
Next on the Mountain
The Avalanche will be back at home Sunday afternoon for a late afternoon tilt with the sputtering Arizona Coyotes. Puck drop is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. MST.