Throughout their five-game winning streak, the Lightning managed to consistently outplay their opponents. That didn’t happen in this contest, however, and not coincidentally, they saw their winning streak come to an end.
There’s a reason why the Avalanche are leading the overall NHL standings a month into the season. They have been a top team in nearly every key statistical metric, with one exception: the power play. But in this game, they excelled in all categories, including the power play. In four chances, the Avs registered nine shots and tallied an important goal.
For much of the night, the Lightning weren’t able to match the Avalanche’s level. They did record the game’s first goal at 1:37 when Nikita Kucherov stole the puck from Cale Makar behind the Colorado net and stuffed in a wraparound. But the tide began to turn when the Lightning committed successive penalties after the halfway mark of the frame. The Avs generated several dangerous looks on their first chance. Shortly after the penalty ended, however, the Lightning were called for too many men on the ice. It didn’t take the Avs long to make them pay—Nathan MacKinnon took a puck to the net and, after Andrei Vasilevskiy made the save, MacKinnon chipped it to the opposite side of the crease. Victor Olafsson swatted it in, tying the game at one.
Early in the second period, the Avs netted two goals just over a minute apart to grab control of the game. The goals resulted from a mix of Lightning errors, a questionable waive-off of an icing, and some Colorado puck luck. About four minutes into the period, the Avs threw the puck down the ice. The linesmen elected not to call icing, so Victor Hedman was forced to play it. With Olafsson applying forechecking pressure, Hedman lost control of it. Gabe Landeskog collected the puck in the left corner and passed to Jack Drury at the left circle. Drury attempted a one-timer but didn’t connect solidly with the puck. It worked out perfectly for the Avs, however, as the puck slid directly to Olafsson in the slot. He one-timed a shot past Vasilevskiy’s glove and into the net.
Just over a minute later, the Lightning lost an offensive-zone faceoff and allowed a rush chance. Sam Malinski fed Ross Colton up the left wing. Colton got around Max Crozier and cut to the net. He went wide to his backhand and put the puck off the post. It was sliding through the crease and would have come out the other side, but it banked off Vasilevskiy’s right leg and caromed into the net.
The Avs played a strong defensive game for much of the rest of the contest, and the Lightning had a difficult time generating dangerous looks. They managed to score one more goal at 3:32 of the third when Brayden Point rushed the puck into the offensive zone and finished a backhander from the side of the net. There were a few other opportunities, including a scramble sequence during the six-on-five late in the third. But they couldn’t find the tying goal.
The Lightning simply made too many mistakes, especially against an opponent as good as the Avalanche. In fact, the final score could have been more lopsided if not for Vasilevskiy. He turned aside several Grade-A chances to keep the Lightning within striking distance. They know they’ll need to be cleaner when they wrap up the trip on Thursday in Vegas.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Brian Engblom):
- Victor Olafsson — Avalanche. Two goals.
- Ross Colton — Avalanche. GWG.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy — Lightning. 30 saves.
