Avalanche Will Prevail in Game 6
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Game 5 will forever be one of those games that the Avalanche faithful wished the puck would have bounced a little different just a few times. The storyline of star player Nathan MacKinnon willing the team to victory was too good and the headlines would have written themselves, but bad stuff happens.
Nathan MacKinnon was flying around from the second the puck dropped and would finish with three goals, two in the first period, and an assist on the only other Avalanche goal. You couldn’t take your eyes off him when he was on the ice. He looked like a man among buys, simply on another level from the rest of the field. The boys had a 3-0 lead, and the game looked like it should be easy sailing through the second and third periods, but the Blues didn’t just roll over.
The score would be tied 3-3 midway through the third period and Nathan MacKinnon would have one of the most insane “Fine, I’ll do it myself” moments in recent memory, where he secured the loose puck behind Darcy Kuemper and powered his way all the way to the opposite goal, through the entire Blues defense, and dropped an absolute beauty for the lead and his hattrick late in the game.
With a 4-3 lead with around two and a half minutes left, the Blues would pull their goalie and just attempt to sneak one past Kuemper to force overtime. They did exactly that. The Avs had a few chances to maybe clear the puck a little more efficiently or possibly take a deeper shot at the net from Captain Landeskog, but the reality is that they just didnt play the third period well enough. They gave up three goals in the third and Nathan MacKinnon’s heroics were in vein as the Avalanche have to suit up tonight and take game 6 on the road in St. Louis.
A few great notes from game 5:
- MacKinnon played out of his mind, he is locked in
- Artturi Lekhonen was elevated to the top line and rewarded for flat out busting his ass and flying around, and that line was absolutely rocking.
- The rest of the team pretty much didn’t show up, which is unlikely multiple games in a row
- The Avs were competitive in the faceoff circle. winning 30/63 for 48% which is better than the last few games
- The Avalanche learned how to throw a wrench in the Blues powerplay, holding them to 0/3 when they were so dominant in the previous four games
A few things that need to be different in Game 6
- The rest of the Avalanche need to come along for the ride, MacKinnon cannot be the only dude out there crushing it.
- The Avalanche are not a conservative hockey club, they shouldn’t go entire periods dumping the puck and playing not to lose. They should attack when the time is right and play conservative only on occasion. They cannot get 5 shots on goal in the second period and 6 in the third. it simply isn’t consistent with how they have played all season
- They need to get out there and hit someone, they got outhit 47-31 in game 5 and they need to return the favor on the road in St. Louis
- The second line needs to pull their heads out of their asses, Val Nichushkin, Mikko Rantanen and Naze, Kadri were bad. Val was -3. Naz was -3 and Mikko was -2
- I know they are saving Kurtis MacDermid for an egregious need for physicality and a butt whooping, but if it wasn’t all the targeting on Naz Kadri in game 3, then when do they unleash the secret weapon?
- Andre Burakovsky is listed on the injury report, and I’d like to assume that is why he hasn’t played the last two games, but reports are that he should be back for game 6 and rotations should go back to normal.
Id love to see these rotations to clench Game 6 and go take it to the Oilers in the Western Conference Finals:
Offense
- Landy, MacKinnon, Mikko
- Val, Kadri, Burakovsky
- Newhook, Lekky, Compher
- Cogliano, O’Conner, Aube-Kubel
Defense
- Makar, Toews
- Manson, MacDermid
- EJ, Byram
Let’s go Avalanche!! let’s get that 3-0 on the road versus St. Louis and break free from the second round! I’d love to see MacKinnon play another stellar game and see the rest of the team come along with him, make a statement and just dominate the Blues!
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