Preview: Avalanche vs. Coyotes Game Two

  

With the first official round of playoffs begun, the Colorado Avalanche currently hold a 1–0 lead in the series against the Arizona Coyotes. The first game, recapped by The Rink, provided insight into how the rest of this series is going to go down, as well as what the Avalanche will need to do to win this series and proceed into the next round.

Solving Kuemper

Darcy Kuemper is an excellent goalie. He finished off the abbreviated 2019–20 season with a .928 save percentage and a 2.22 goals against average. He also consistently proves to be difficult for the Avalanche to score on. Game One between these teams saw Kuemper make 37 saves against an aggressive Colorado team, some of which were absolute robberies, including this left pad save:

If the Avalanche can figure Kuemper out, that should theoretically guarantee them the series. Having had one game to feel things out, we may see an adjustment on how the team approaches the net, hopefully resulting in sustained offensive pressure rather than a series of quick goals late in the game.

The key to beating Arizona is going to be patience, which the Avs displayed in Game One. They need to sustain that patience going into this game to ensure that they do not get frustrated and allow Arizona to capitalize on any mistakes.

Goalies for the back-to-back

These teams meet on Friday at 12:30 p.m. MDT and again on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. MDT. With how both goalies have been performing lately, seeing a split here would not be surprising. Pavel Francouz shut out the Stars in his first NHL postseason game last week and Philipp Grubauer shut out the Coyotes in Game One. While Grubauer is likely going to be the main starter for the Avs in the playoffs, switching goalies for the back-to-back would allow him a reprieve.

If the Avs keep up the whole-team defense we saw in Game One, the choice of goalie should matter even less. Grubauer faced only 14 shots on goal, a product of the Avs being able to keep the puck in Arizona’s end for almost the entire game.

Players to watch

The Avalanche top line is going to get firing at some point during the playoffs. We saw a glimpse of their capabilities at the end of Game One, with Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen combining for a pretty goal to close out scoring in the third:

While the storyline of this season has been about the depth that the Avalanche have, it would be ideal to combine that depth with production from the Avs’ most skilled line.

If the Coyotes do get their offense firing, it will likely come at the hands of Clayton Keller or Oliver Ekman-Larsson, both of whom have had a consistent presence in the postseason for their team. Being shut out in the first game will see the Coyotes come into Game Two with a higher degree of competitiveness, which should make this next matchup all the more exciting to watch.

Game schedule

Game Two: Friday, 12 p.m. MDT

Game Three: Saturday, 1 p.m. MDT

Game Four: Monday, Aug. 17, 3:30 p.m. MDT

Game Five*: Wednesday, Aug. 19, TBD

Game Six*: Friday, Aug. 21, TBD

Game Seven*: Sunday, Aug. 23, TBD

adsense

Center Ice Forums Preview: Avalanche vs. Coyotes Game Two

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #17703
    Lucas Rozell
    Participant

    With the first official round of playoffs begun, the Colorado Avalanche currently hold a 1–0 lead in the series against the Arizona Coyotes. The first[To continue reading full article, click here: Preview: Avalanche vs. Coyotes Game Two]

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.