AVALANCHE

Golden Knights dominate Avalanche again, even series at 2-2

Jun 7, 2021, 6:24 AM

The Avalanche’s top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog is probably the NHL’s best, but it hasn’t looked like it in the last two games — both Colorado losses, including Sunday’s 5-1, one-sided affair. It’s the Golden Knights’ line of Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith that’s looked better, as Vegas came back to Sin City down 2-0, and left with the series tied. That line had seven points on Sunday, including Marchessault’s hat trick, giving them 10 in the last two games — five of them goals.

“Once they get one chance, they swarm with two or three other chances, so you’ve got to quickly get into your zone and sort things out to try and prevent that,” head coach Jared Bednar said.

The Avs’ top line, so productive throughout the first round — and the first game of this one — haven’t been able to get significant traction since. Though Rantanen did score the overtime game-winner in a Game 2 in which Colorado was outplayed, and punched in another one in the Game 3 loss on Friday, MacKinnon didn’t have a point in Vegas.

“They’re frustrated, for sure. This is going to be a battle,” Bednar said. “I fully expect our guys to take another step in this series in the home game (Game 5 on Tuesday), and our big line will have to be a big part of that.”

Brandon Saad, who scored the Avs’ lone goal on Sunday, is one of only three Colorado players with a Stanley Cup championship. Saad won with the Blackhawks in 2014-15, while Andre Burakovsky and Philipp Grubauer (who was benched for Braden Holtby) both won as teammates on the Capitals in the 2017-18 season. Given his experience, Saad wasn’t sounding the alarm after their Game 4 loss.

“They’ve got a good team. That is a way the series goes; that’s why they call it a series. We didn’t think we were going to come in here and take both games,” Saad explained. “I mean, we didn’t play as good as we should have, but there’s some things that we did do well that we can kind of regroup here and have a short-term memory. We are going back to a building where we have success in, where we play well at. It’s a 2-2 series. It’s best of three now. We know we’ve got a long road ahead of us, and we are looking forward to the challenge.”

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NEXT UP: Game 5, Avalanche vs. Golden Knights (Series tied, 2-2) | Tuesday, Jun. 8 at 7:00 p.m. | TV: NBCSN

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NOTES

• Patrik Nemeth had two costly turnovers that led to goals on Sunday, and Vegas seems to know that they can pick his pocket. Rookie Bowen Byram is an excellent puck-handler, and the Avs need all the skating they can get given how effectively the Golden Knights have clogged the ice in the last two games. Head coach Jared Bednar could also go with Jacob MacDonald, who has played well in spurts this season.

• Rookie winger Alex Newhook sat out both games in Vegas; a curious decision that head coach Jared Bednar may well reverse in a Game 5 where the Avs need more explosiveness.

• Brandon Saad scored the first goal of the game, continuing his remarkable playoff performance. Saad has now scored in six of the last seven games for the Avs and sits third in the NHL in postseason goals. Brought to the Avalanche, in part, for his championship experience with the Blackhawks, is two goals from tying his career-best postseason of eight goals, set with Chicago in the 2014-15 postseason.

• The Avalanche were 5-0 in playoffs when scoring first until Sunday’s loss to Vegas.

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THE FINAL WORD

“I didn’t have a problem with our intent or the purpose to our game and the way we competed. I thought, for the most part, it was pretty good. We gave up some chances off the rush where they were beating us up the ice, they made some plays and got some chances, but I think our work ethic was fine.” — Head coach Jared Bednar, who previously called his team out for a lack of effort following their Game 3 loss on Friday.

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LAST NIGHT’S LINES

FORWARDS
Top Line: LW Gabriel Landeskog, C Nathan MacKinnon, RW Mikko Rantanen
Second Line: LW Valeri Nichushkin, C Tyson Jost, RW Joonas Donskoi
Third Line: LW Brandon Saad, C J.T. Compher, RW Andre Burakovsky
Fourth Line: LW Carl Soderberg, C Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, RW Kiefer Sherwood

DEFENSEMEN
Top Pair: LD Devon Toews, RD Cale Makar
Second Pair: LD Samuel Girard, RD Ryan Graves
Third Pair: LD Patrik Nemeth, RD Conor Timmins

GOALTENDER
Starter: Philipp Grubauer

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INJURY WATCH

• Bowen Byram (upper-body injury) has been out since March 24, but is “an option whenever we want to use him,” according to head coach Jared Bednar on May 19.
• Logan O’Connor (lower-body injury) was placed on injured reserve on Apr. 2. He has had surgery, and may be able to return at some point in the postseason.
• Matt Calvert (upper-body injury) missed the Mar. 31 game and was placed on the injured reserve list on Apr. 11.
• Dennis Gilbert (facial injury, COVID-19 protocol) was placed on injured reserve on Feb. 20. He is expected to be out until at least late March.
• Erik Johnson (upper-body injury) left the Jan. 30 game and has no projected return date. On March 25, coach Jared Bednar suggested that it was possible that Johnson could miss the remainder of the season.
• Pavel Francouz (hip) has yet to play this season and remains on injured reserve. On Apr. 12, the Avalanche ruled him out for the rest of the season following hip surgery.

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Shawn Drotar is the host of “The Fan Late Night with Shawn Drotar;” weeknights from 10:00 p.m. to midnight — only on 104.3 The Fan

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