Defensive Breakdowns Kill Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche took on the Los Angeles Kings last night in a classic showdown for the two teams. With the Kings in second place in the Pacific Division and 4-1 in their last five games, they are not to be taken lightly. They may be a young, inexperienced team but they have been rocking through the west with some ease. Their last meeting on December 29th didn’t go the Avalanche’s way, so they will try to even out the series. It became a series of defensive breakdowns and power play issues that would kill Colorado in the end. 

First Period 

The Colorado Avalanche opened the game with the first four shots on goal. That included killing off a penalty by Brad Hunt, where the Kings were not able to get a shot at all. But the name of the first period was defensive breakdowns. As the puck was sent around the boards to Cale Makar, it skipped over his stick allowing Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe to break free on a two-on-one. It gave Devon Toews no chance to break up the play. The second goal by the Kings was when Valeri Nichushkin pinned Kopitar in the corner (nothing wrong here). However, Kopitar was able to pass the puck to Gabriel Vilardi. He was wide open because Bowen Byram got drawn down too low and left Vilardi open.

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Second Period

The power play struggled for the Avalanche in the second period. They got two chances in the period and managed to only get one shot on goal from Byram. In the first chance they did not even get set up in the Kings’ zone until there was 20 seconds left. They did not even get a shot until seven seconds left in the first chance. But twenty-five seconds after the first power play, Samuel Girard took a shot from the right-side point and Evan Rodrigues had a perfect redirect to get Colorado on the board. Late in the period, once again the Avalanche failed on the extra man advantage. They couldn’t get set up or get the puck in the zone. The Avalanche left the second only down by one 2-1. 

Third Period

Right away the Kings would strike at the Avalanche. Less than thirty seconds into the period, Colorado failed to clear the puck out of the zone. Toews would be guarding against Kempe right in front of the crease, but would not give him any physical presence to prevent a goal. Nathan MacKinnon was able to strike back on the power play but it was not enough as fifteen seconds later the Kings would get another goal of their own. Kevin Fiala beat MacKinnon on the face-off and was able to get it back to Jordan Spence who took a shot from the point. Phillip Danault would redirect to the puck and get the Kings a two-goal lead again. With about two and a half minutes left, Danault had an empty net goal to make it 5-2.

Conclusion

Defensive breakdowns were an issue in last night’s contest. If Colorado had been aware of defensive assignments on the second and third goals, the lead would have been cut. The puck skipping over the stick of Makar…just happens sometimes. The other issue that would have helped the Avalanche significantly would have been the power play. Had they been able to set up and perhaps convert on just one more chance, it could have made a difference.