Avs looked nervous to me in that opening shot of them waiting in the locker room to start the game. Think that translated to a lot of the game. Another sluggish first period, poor passing, and just poor handling of the puck far too often in this game. Lots of fumbling pucks.
I’m still less concerned with a Girard-Makar pairing than similar pairings, but they are showing exactly the things I was concerned with as well. Net front coverage for Makar, and lack of passing and puck mobility with the EJ-Cole pairing.
Makar was great again with the puck, but he’s still a bit too green to be covering the front of the net in the NHL. When he’s with Girard, Makar is the one they want covering the net, and unfortunately he’s lost two battles to give up two goals the last couple games. He needs some help in that area until at least next season.
The other concern is having EJ and Cole handle the puck more with Girard and Makar together, and unfortunately EJ cost them tonight with a terrible outlet pass. Made worse by Cole changing at the worst time, so he couldn’t help cover. EJ has got to wake up and start playing like he did against the Flames though, or this team may be toast.
That said, I’m still ok with Bednar keeping Girard and Makar together in spot duty like they were doing before. Not full time like he did tonight. I think that’s just asking for too much trouble until Makar gets better adjusted to the NHL.
Grubauer was good again tonight, but I didn’t like that third goal he gave up after the Avs tied it. Couture faked him out to go down early, and it left too much open net to shoot at. Would have like to see Barrie realize that MacKinnon was in position to cover Meier, and be more aggresive with his stick to deflect the puck away, but it was a pretty quick play.
Didn't like Landy's game tonight. Looked like he was hurt or something. Just not very effective, and wasn't making great decisions. Too passive as well. Need to see him come out with a big performance next game.
Thought Barrie was off tonight too. Didn’t look great with the puck, and didn’t have a good shooting mentality. Finished with 0 shots for the first time in a month and half. Last time he finished with 0 shots was March 15th against the Ducks. He's been outstanding lately, so he's one of the few that gets a pass tonight.
Avs need to show more desperation to start next game. They need to have a great start, and they need to finish their chances. No more missed opportunities. They need to approach it like a game 7, because SJ is gonna be pumped up to close it out in their building if they lose. That's gonna be a tough one to win.
