Ducks vs Avalanche: Extra Defenseman Doesn't Improve Defense
The Anaheim Ducks took the ice against the Colorado Avalanche tonight for their 6th contest of the season. The big story continues to be Dallas Eakins and his lineup decisions. Trevor Zegras was scratched again in favor of players like Derek Grant and Nicolas Deslauriers. While seeing Danton Heinen playing more frequently is nice, lineup optimization is still a big question mark. Oh, Eakins also stuck with his patented 11F/7D lineup. Let's see how that went!
FIRST PERIOD
Only a couple of minutes into the opening period, Nathan MacKinnon gained possession of the puck off a faceoff in the Ducks' zone, flipped a nifty backhand pass toward the front of the net and Mikko Rantanen sent a backhander past Ryan Miller. Avs took the early lead, 1-0.
Soon after, Max Comtois would be sent off for a strange penalty. His stick broke on a non-contact play and the refs considered the discard of the stick as an illegal use of the stick, sending Colorado to their first powerplay of the game. Danton Heinen nearly had a short-handed goal, but couldn't get the puck over the pad of Philipp Grubauer.
Comtois exited the box as the powerplay ended and received a pass in the neutral zone. He carried the puck along the half-wall and sent a perfect pass across the crease to Heinen for the easy tap-in. Great execution following a penalty kill and a great pass from Comtois. Heinen gave Head Coach Dallas Eakins another reminder that he belongs in the lineup every day. Ducks tied up the game 1-1.
Jakob Silfverberg was sent off for tripping and the Avs went back to the powerplay. Colorado put on a clinic for zone entries. Maybe Anaheim could learn a thing or two. The Ducks were able to kill off the penalty once again, going 2 for 2 in the first period.
Everything got locked up for the rest of this period and would end tied 1-1. Anaheim was outshot 12-7 by Colorado. But hey, they won 75% of the faceoffs.
SECOND PERIOD
A few minutes into the middle frame, Colorado would score again. Off of a point shot from the blue line by Ryan Graves, the rebound bounced off Miller and straight to Jost who hit the net. A broken play and an unfortunate little deflection by Andy Welinski led to this one. Colorado regained the lead, 2-1.
Colorado continued their relentless attack for most of this period. They're so quick and win puck battles everywhere on the ice. The Ducks struggled to keep up and took penalties. Max Comtois would again be called for a penalty sending the Avs to the powerplay. MacKinnon's skill was on full display, showing off his quick hands and ability to slice through the Ducks penalty kill. They almost scored on a tic-tac-toe passing play, but Miller was able to get down and take away the five-hole. Luckily, halfway through the penalty, Colorado was called for a hook, giving us our first look at 4 on 4 and eventually a Ducks powerplay. The Ducks couldn't get anything going and both teams went back to full strength with the Avs still up 2-1.
With a few minutes left in the period, the Ducks took yet another penalty. Josh Manson was sent off for cross-checking to give Colorado their 4th penalty of the game. Immediately, Colorado got another goal. A shot from the point by Cale Makar was tipped right in front of the net by Gabriel Landeskog. Avs increased their lead, 3-1.
The end of the period had more shenanigans than anything else leading to coincidental minor penalties. The Ducks weren't able to get anything going with the extra space on the ice and would end the period still down 3-1. Anaheim managed only 2 registered shots on goal to Colorado's 21. Overall 33-9 in favor of the Avs.
That was...embarrassing...
THIRD PERIOD
Well, at least things couldn’t get worse right? Right?!
WRONG.
Colorado’s Pierre-Edouard Bellemare had a shot graze the post, but immediately after, the Ducks were on the forecheck and Troy Terry got his hands on a loose puck. He stickhandled right in front of Grubauer, fumbled the puck a bit, and tapped it in. Terry continued his improved play and brought the Ducks within a goal, 3-2.
A few minutes later the Avs were on the hunt for revenge. Miller made a number of huge stops including a wide-open net attempted stopped with his stick. Eventually, a sharp-angled shot by J.T. Compher would get past Miller. Colorado’s two-goal lead was restored, 4-2.
This game started to really get out of hand. Jamie Drysdale couldn’t get the puck deep and Cale Makar went flying down. He curled quickly behind the net and sent a centering pass back to Valeri Nichushkin who buried it. Avs up, 5-2. Shots up to this point were 42-13 for those who read this far.
With five minutes left in the game, Deslauriers and Grant received consecutive penalties giving the Avs a 5-on-3 powerplay for about 90 seconds. Miller stood on his head to keep the Avs off the board and managed to kill both penalties. Bravo.
The game finally ended. Avs won 5-2 while outshooting the Ducks 48-15.
ANALYSIS
Don’t play the Colorado Avalanche.
UP NEXT
The Anaheim Ducks get a few days off and return to the ice on Friday against the Arizona Coyotes at 7PM PDT. See you then!