CBJvsCOL Archives - The Rink https://www.the-rink.com/tag/cbjvscol/ Chicago Blackhawks and NHL Salary Cap Information Sun, 13 Oct 2024 05:08:04 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://i0.wp.com/www.the-rink.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cropped-FavIcon_v3.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 CBJvsCOL Archives - The Rink https://www.the-rink.com/tag/cbjvscol/ 32 32 136660061 Avalanche fall 6–4 to Columbus in home opener https://www.the-rink.com/avalanche-fall-6-4-to-columbus-in-home-opener/ https://www.the-rink.com/avalanche-fall-6-4-to-columbus-in-home-opener/#respond Sun, 13 Oct 2024 05:08:04 +0000 https://www.the-rink.com/?p=31947 The Colorado Avalanche welcomed fans back into Ball Arena for the first time this year, but had a less than stellar performance to showcase. After allowing two goals on his... Read more »

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]]> The Colorado Avalanche welcomed fans back into Ball Arena for the first time this year, but had a less than stellar performance to showcase. After allowing two goals on his first three shots faced, starting netminder Alexandar Georgiev saw an ugly five-hole third goal allowed in the second period. Coach Jared Bednar Avalanche fall 6–4 to Columbus in home opener Avalanche fall 6–4 to Columbus in home opener had seen enough and pulled the plug on Georgiev for the second time in as many games. Young backup Justus Annunen allowed the first shot he faced in, and a bad defensive breakdown in the embers of the second period saw the Avalanche skate a five to three deficit into the final frame.

For a moment there was hope, as Ross Colton brought the Avalanche within one with the net empty and more than a minute remaining on the clock. However, the officiating decided that the game would not be headed to overtime because of a highly questionable call against Casey Mittlestadt, which iced the game. Columbus scored an empty-net goal on the ensuing power play, punctuated by Nathan MacKinnon shattering his stick over the bench whilst screaming at the officiating crew before storming to the locker room.

For only being the second game of the young season, this was about as ugly a loss as you can get for a team with Stanley Cup aspirations. In the cinematic-inspired format of the good, the bad, and the ugly, we will analyze the key takeaways from tonight’s losing efforts.

The Good

Ivan Ivan Scores first career point

How about some palette cleansing positivity for Avalanche fans? Rookie Ivan Ivan looks right at home, centering the fourth line and played a standout game in the losing effort. Ivan recorded his first point, assisting MacKinnon’s power play goal, and beneath the surface played among the best game of any Avalanche skater. Looking at the advanced analytics shows you just how good the rookie was. Check out the names he is lining up with at the top of this chart.

MVP

Nathan MacKinnon received his MVP trophy from fellow MVP (of the NBA) Nikola Jokic to start the festivities this evening. He then became one of the lone bright spots for the Avalanche on the ice. One goal and one assist doesn’t do justice to the back checking, highlight reel effort from the reigning MVP. MacKinnon was all over the ice and in a game where his goaltending supported him, this would have been a win because of Nathan MacKinnon.

The Bad

The Josh Manson and Sam Girard pairing

As you may have deduced from the chart in the above section, it was a terrible night for the Avalanche second-defensive pairing. Manson was arguably the Avalanche’s best defender in the opener against Vegas, but came crashing down in the home-opener and was easily the worst. The pair was minus two on the night and while goaltending let the Avalanche down, the two goals against that weren’t on the goalies were firmly on the Manson/Girard duo.

You can see here Annunen making two saves to bail out the rush, but both Manson and Girard being out of position leads to multiple follow-up chances that eventually become the game-winning-goal.

 

Failing to cover their man in front of the net, selling out for checks and pinches, leading to odd man rushes, and lacking defensive zone awareness. The second-pairing rollercoaster needs to climb back up next game.

The Ugly

Goaltending

Critics frequently target Avalanche fans for their excessive criticism of starting goaltender Alexandar Georgiev. Even after a Hindenburg style performance in net tonight that saw Georgiev pulled in the second, coach Bednar responded in the post-game presser by saying,

“I get that there is a level of frustration, but Georgie is our guy. He is our starter.”

While you can appreciate the sentiment of a head coach trying to get behind his locker room, we need to face facts. Here are the expected goals comparison for this game (per NaturalStatTrick).

We can dig deeper into the statistics. In the season opener against Vegas, Georgiev allowed five goals on 16 shots, prompting the coach to pull him and resulting in a save percentage of .688 with an expected goal against of only 1.20. Tonight, Georgiev got pulled by the coach after giving up three goals on nine shots, resulting in a save percentage of .667%. Was the defense worse tonight? Nope, actually they were better only allowing an expected goal against of 0.74. Turning less than a goal against into three goals is bad, but turning in an identically terrible effort two games in a row is a call for change. As Rita Mae Brown famously said in her novel, Sudden Death (1983),

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Starting Georgiev has become that insanity.

Backup Justus Annunen had a rough night in his own right. Against Vegas he gave up two of the four shots he faced, and he gave two more goals tonight in a larger sample. Standards shouldn’t be the same for these two, as one of the hardest things you can ask of an NHL goaltender is to come in cold in the middle of a game that is already going against you. The first goal Annunen surrendered was bad, but the bad you honestly expect from a young goalie who didn’t get to warm up. The second is from the clip above and is solely the fault of a defensive breakdown. As the game went on and Annunen warmed, he improved quite a bit.

Annunen finished with a .846 save percentage and allowed two goals on 1.13 expected goals against.

The obvious choice for Colorado is to have Justus Annunen start the next game against the New York Islanders. We will see whether coach Bednar is adhering to the same definition of insanity we all are then.

The Avalanche welcome former legend Patrick Roy and his New York Islanders to Ball Arena Monday night, October 14th, at 7:00pm MT. Coverage will be provided by Altitude.

 

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]]> https://www.the-rink.com/avalanche-fall-6-4-to-columbus-in-home-opener/feed/ 0 31947 Avalanche fail to play from behind against Blue Jackets https://www.the-rink.com/avalanche-fail-to-play-from-behind-against-blue-jackets/ https://www.the-rink.com/avalanche-fail-to-play-from-behind-against-blue-jackets/#respond Tue, 02 Apr 2024 02:43:25 +0000 https://www.the-rink.com/?p=29178 Following a 7–4 win over the Nashville Predators, the Colorado Avalanche fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets 4–1. The Blue Jackets hold a record of 25–38–12, the fourth worst in... Read more »

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]]> Following a 7–4 win over the Nashville Predators, the Colorado Avalanche fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets 4–1. The Blue Jackets hold a record of 25–38–12, the fourth worst in the league.

In their last matchup, the Avalanche rolled over the Blue Jackets 6–1. Tonight was a different story.

First period

The first period of the night was a slow one from both sides. Justus Annunen only saw 11 shots on goal while Blue Jackets’ goaltender, Daniil Tarasov, saw seven.

With three minutes left, Samuel Girard was called for a holding penalty. The Avalanche killed 26 of 27 of the last penalties in the season. Annunen saw two shots before the Blue Jackets drew a penalty.

For forty-three seconds, the two teams played 4–on–4. The Avalanche currently ranks sixth on the power play this season. However, that play didn’t show tonight.

The first ended scoreless.

Second period

Halfway through the second, Blue Jackets’ Kirill Marchenko got the night’s first goal. This was his 20th goal of the season, and Erik Gudbranson and Johnny Gaudreau assisted him.

Not long after, Alex Nylander scored his first of the night from Ivan Provorov and Dimitri Voronkov after an Avalanche turnover.

To round out the second period, Nylander notched his second goal from Gudbranson and Jake Bean. This goal sealed the deal. No chance for an Avalanche comeback.

Third period

Entering the last period of the night, the Avalanche continue to have a record of 10-16 when trailing after two periods. While the Blue Jackets are 15–1–7 when leading.

The Blue Jackets served two penalties in the third period, both opportunities for the Avalanche to score. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to generate enough chances.

Chris Wagner scored his first goal back in an Avalanche sweater from Sean Walker and Artturi Lehkonen early on.

However, nothing was to come of it as the Blue Jackets scored their fourth and final goal of the night. Cole Sillinger scored on an empty net with a minute and a half remaining. Alexandre Texier and Marchenko assisted him.

Takeaways

It was not a good night for the Avalanche offensively. It was a frustrating one for the team, who took 46 shots while Columbus only had 25.

With playoff season and the Presidents Trophy right around the corner, this was a game to collect points. The Avalanche trail the Dallas Stars in the Central Division by three points.

Colorado will continue on the road and will head to Minnesota, where they will play the Wild Thursday night at six.

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]]> https://www.the-rink.com/avalanche-fail-to-play-from-behind-against-blue-jackets/feed/ 0 29178 Avalanche and MacKinnon extend streaks https://www.the-rink.com/avalanche-and-mackinnon-extend-streaks/ https://www.the-rink.com/avalanche-and-mackinnon-extend-streaks/#respond Sat, 23 Mar 2024 04:37:42 +0000 https://www.the-rink.com/?p=29060 It was a successful night with two streaks continuing. The Colorado Avalanche extended their winning streak and Nathan MacKinnon extended both of his point streaks. The Colorado Avalanche now have... Read more »

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]]> It was a successful night with two streaks continuing. The Colorado Avalanche extended their winning streak and Nathan MacKinnon extended both of his point streaks. The Colorado Avalanche now have the longest winning streak of the season sitting at eight games. Their streak started back on March 4th against the Chicago Blackhawks and they have been on a roll since. The addition of all the new players over the trade deadline has helped as well. The moves have made the Avalanche a force to be reckoned with. Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar all were key in the victory tonight against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Here are the takeaways from the 6–1 victory over the Blue Jackets.

Takeaways

— MacKinnon has been on fire extending his point streak to 17 games. He is now only two games short of his career high that were set earlier this season (11–20 to 12–27). During the 17-game point streak, MacKinnon has scored an amazing 34 points. Adding to his point streak, MacKinnon has opened the season scoring in all 33 home games. He trails the great Wayne Gretzky, who had a 40 game streak set back in 1988-89. Mackinnon’s goal tonight was his 43rd goal of the season, marking a new career high.

— Rantanen is on pace for career highs in goals, assists and points this season. He is one of two players that has played every game so far this season. With 12 games remaining in the season, Rantanen is only nine points short of his career high of 105 set last season. He has mostly been playing on the first line, but is one player that can shift down to the second line if need be.

— The Avalanche did not give up a penalty until a minute and a half left in the game. Josh Manson laid a clean hit on Mathieu Olivier and they dropped the mitts. Colorado could sustain their offensive momentum throughout the entire game by staying out of the penalty box.

Conclusion

With the moves that the Avalanche have made before and during the deadline, they have become unstoppable. Before, they had to roll two, maybe three, lines through the game. Now, they are so deep, Colorado can roll all four lines AND all three pairs on defense. This makes the workload on Alexandar Georgiev a lot easier. Now Georgiev may play a little more. Next, Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins come to Denver on Sunday and will have an early noon puck drop.

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