In 48 seconds, the Avs rose from the ashes and got back in the series
Apr 21, 2023, 6:43 AM
In Thursday night’s breathtaking, 3-2 win over the Seattle Kraken in Game 2 at Ball Arena, the Colorado Avalanche were able to use their championship pedigree captained by a player in a suit not skates to complete a brilliant comeback after a horrific start. Gabriel Landeskog made his presence felt in a unique way that helped the Avs tie up their series with the Kraken.
After the morning skate, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said he felt great about the spirit of his team and its focus. He promised they would be better.
In the first period, the Avs made their coach look like a liar.
“The first period was terrible, okay,” coach Jared Bednar dryly said. “After Game 1, I thought we would be sharp and on it in the first. It’s not like it was a lack of care, a lack of try. I thought we were tight. Nobody wanted the puck. To me, that was the worst period we played in the series so far.”
The Avs skated like a disconnected, exhausted team in their uninspiring Game 1 loss. Incredibly, they put forth a worse effort to start the next game two days later. Avs fans around the world found themselves asking, “What is happening?!?”
Trailing the Kraken 2-0 after 20 minutes, the Stanley Cup champs got booed off the ice by their usually adoring home crowd.
Bednar was obviously disappointed by the Game 1 loss. He made some major changes to his lines. It wasn’t as if these players had never played in combination with each other. It was more like they hadn’t played together when everybody was healthy. Desperation didn’t put guys side by side; it was analytics. Nerd hockey was in full effect.
The move was either genius or pure panic.
Players were more mixed up than Stevie Wonder’s Rubik’s cube. Mikko Rantanen went to the second line with Valeri Nichushkin and J.T. Compher. On the first line, Nathan MacKinnon centered Evan Rodrigues and Artturi Lehkonen. Meanwhile, Darren Helm made his playoff debut on the fourth line.
Shaking up the blue-line, Devon Toews and Bo Byram flip flopped defensive pairings, with Byram joining Cale Makar and Toews playing alongside Sam Girard.
“(I) didn’t like the way Game 1 went,” said Bednar about his beleaguered defensive pairings. “A little bit more balance this way. Girard and Toews had just played together for 10 games with Cale out. They were outstanding. Girard had a spike in all of his analytic numbers. He was making a bigger impact than he had at other times during the year.”
However, the biggest question was going with Josh Manson.
Manson missed 55 games in the regular season. Bednar admitted he was rusty in Game 1. At the morning skate, Manson did some light work with skating coach Shane Allard and left before the team went through their paces. Not only were there legitimate questions if he would play in Game 2, but it was questionable if he would ever be able to get in the right hockey shape to play in the rest of the playoffs.
Off the bat, it was an utter disaster. Allowing a soft goal in the first three minutes was one thing, but giving up a short-handed score on the Avs first power play was devastating.
Meanwhile, Kraken keeper Phillip Grubauer was effortlessly rolling the consecutive shutout penalty minutes.
All was looking lost. Until the Avs realized who they really were.
Similar to ticking off Dr. Bruce Banner, opponents won’t like the Avs when they get mad.
“Guys get frustrated, but then you talk about it in the room,” said Makar. “You get back out there and it’s a compete reset in the brain and you just move on.”
Makar detailed that, despite movie versions of upset athletes and coaches kicking trash cans and knocking over soda machines, the reality was a reasoned approach proved more effective.
“Oh, it was very calm,” said Makar. “There’s no point to be animated. It’s one period of a 60-minute game. For us, we know the things we have to do to win games. In the first period, our standard wasn’t there. It was just a matter of getting back to that.”
Forty-eight seconds changed everything.
Second Period…
6:42 – Makar unleashed a blast from the point that Lehkonen tipped beating Grubi.
2-1 Seattle
7:30 – Toews sends a brilliant full ice pass off the boards to Rodrigues, who deftly slid the puck to Nichushkin. Gracefully deeking Grubauer, Big Val tucked the puck home.
2-2
The once-dormant crowd exploded. The Avs were back and not afraid to throw their weight around. Rodrigues, who is generously listed at 5-foot-11, 184 pounds, dropped his hips and decleated Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn. It was an epic all-time hit that will live forever in highlight reels and Avalanche lore.
“He just kind of turned into me,” said ERod. “I don’t think you are going to turn up a hit when a guy is skating right at you, so I just tried to finish it.”
Late in the second, in a scrum in front of Avs goalie Alexandar Georgiev, Kraken forward Brandon Tanev jumped off a virtual top rope onto Makar’s neck, putting the Norris Trophy winner in a headlock. Somehow, this resulted in matching roughing penalties.
Messages were being sent by both teams that neither would go quietly into the night.
It was clear the best of playoff hockey was revealing itself in a closely contested third period. The teams danced carefully up and down the ice. The dangerous chances were few and far between. But those that revealed themselves leaned towards Colorado.
MacKinnon was the first Avs player who got close to unplugging the dam. Off a pounding rush, Nate took the puck directly to the net. Grubauer lost track of it as he spun into his own net only to have the puck unintentionally kicked away.
Byram was next, as he would get a brilliant opportunity that was savagely denied.
Finally, Toews, who gave up a critical turnover that led to a goal in Game 1, gave the Avs their first lead of the series.
Lehkonen threw the puck at the net. Grubauer made the initial deflection to his left landing directly onto Toews stick. Calmly, Toews controlled the play, sniping the puck over Grubauer’s shoulder to give the Avs a 3-2 lead.
“Sometimes, you just close your eyes and sometimes, you just find a spot,” said a satisfied Toews who had a brilliant game on both ends of the ice.
Seattle battled to the end, but to no avail. The Avs missed a couple of empty net chances, but a one-goal difference was good enough.
The building shook. Belief had returned and “All The Small Things” bellowed from the thunderous in-house sound system as jubilant Avs fans filtered out of the arena in happy delirium.
Yet still, there was one fascinating stone to overturn.
Captain Gabriel Landeskog, who had just announced his self-removal from this year’s playoffs before the Kraken series had begun because of injuries, was a key contributor.
“Gabe’s been in the room,” said Byram. “Just to have him in the room chatting with us is huge for us.”
Bednar has explained he doesn’t make big speeches between periods. Instead, he and his coaches go over film and huddle, organizing their plan for the next period. In that void, stepped Landy.
“Again, I’m not in there,” Bednar explained about their intermission routine. “But, we have great leadership. I trust those guys. Landy has been in there as he’s been watching. I think it helps as Landy isn’t as emotionally invested in it and they trust him. He’s their captain. He carries a big voice. Sometimes, you need a voice that isn’t as engaged in it emotionally. It’s not just me and the coaches. It’s been a family atmosphere since I got here.”
What won a game that started off looking more disastrous than a “Love is Blind” reunion on Netflix was experienced leadership. In a twist, a key contributor was a beloved player who will never lace it up in the postseason.
The legend of Gabriel Landeskog continues to grow.
Saturday night, the legacy of the Avalanche will write another chapter as Seattle hosts its first playoff game in their organization’s history. The issue the Kraken will have is they have seen the Avs at their worst and still lost.
***
