Avalanche advance in spite of, not because of, Darcy Kuemper's play

Game 6 Between the Colorado Avalanche and St. Louis Blues was a battle until the very end. Colorado went hard in the early going, but St. Louis continually pushed back. The game may not have been even in terms of shots generated, but neither team led by more than one goal at any point.

With the matchup tied 2-2 late in the third period, overtime seemed inevitable. But Avalanche forward Darren Helm scored with just 5.6 seconds remaining in the third period to clinch the second-round Stanley Cup playoff series for Colorado.

Here are a few observations.

Colorado was the better team, but St. Louis nearly pulled off yet another upset victory.

The Avalanche were dominant in Game 6, firing 39 shots on Blues goaltender Ville Husso. The Blues, on the other hand, got out to another slow start and never really picked up the pace. St. Louis was only able to muster 20 shots on goal.

I think the first period was about survival for the Blues, and they were successful. Despite the Avs maintaining puck possession for most of the first frame, they weren’t able to generate many chances that — as a goaltender — would have made me nervous. Most of the 13 Avalanche shots came from outside, and very few on the rush.

When Blues defenseman Justin Faulk scored with one minute remaining in the first period, I thought St. Louis had a chance to win. It survived the initial push by Colorado and managed to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

By the end of the second period, the score was 2-1 in favor of St. Louis. But I actually think owning the lead was bad for the Blues. It forced the Avalanche to stay hungry offensively. Colorado couldn’t afford to sit back and protect the lead like it did in Game 5 — a tactic that eventually blew up in its face when St. Louis mounted a comeback and won in overtime.

The Avalanche were rewarded in Game 6 for sticking to their identity. It was a gutsy performance against a resilient Blues team.

Forward depth won the game — and the series.

Before the series even began, I predicted that Nathan MacKinnon and Ryan O’Reilly, of the Avalanche and Blues, respectively, would cancel one another out offensively. And that was largely the case. Aside from MacKinnon’s utterly dominant performance in Game 5 in which he posted a hat trick and an assist, the two centers kept pace with one another.

I thought the series would be determined largely by the performance of each team’s second and third lines. And that ended up being true throughout the series, especially in Game 6.

Jordan Kyrou, skating on the Blues’ third line, scored midway through the second period and equaled his linemate Brayden Schenn with five shots on goal. With Alexei Toropchenko on left wing, the trio was by far the most dangerous line offensively for St. Louis.

But as good as the third line was for the Blues, it also missed several key opportunities, including a mad scramble during the second period that found Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper well outside his goal crease. With an open net to shoot at, Kyrou instead cut to his backhand and gave Colorado defenseman Josh Manson time to get to the blue paint and make a save.

The Avalanche had a more fortuitous night. J.T. Compher — Colorado’s third-line center — scored twice in just over nine minutes of ice time. And Helm, who was noticeable throughout the series despite limited ice time skating on Avalanche’s fourth line, was able to put the game away with a laser of a slap shot that eluded Blues goaltender Ville Husso with just under six seconds left in regulation.

Husso gave St. Louis a chance, while Kuemper couldn’t find a rhythm.

First things first: Compher’s second goal of the evening on Husso was a great shot from one of the hardest places to make a save from: the dot. In a scenario like this, the attacking player is moving so fast that the angle is constantly changing. And it’s on the goaltender to make slight lateral adjustments to stay square.

Husso wasn’t able to do that in time, and he gave away just enough space on the short side for Compher to take advantage of. Trust me on this, it’s a lot easier said than done. And dot shots are incredibly hard for goaltenders to stay reactive on. From that angle, goalies know they have most of the net covered. So it’s really hard to resist simply blocking when the shot is released — something Husso is guilty of in this instance.

Also, add this to the equation: The dot is really close to the net. Go ahead and stand in the goal crease at your local arena and you’ll soon realize that it’s a fool’s errand to think goaltenders are capable of purely reacting and making the save from that close. The reality is that making a save on any shot from below the top of the circle is an educated guess.

But we live in a world where goalies aren’t allowed to be beaten clean by a shot. It’s just how it is. Husso played incredible Friday night, but people are beating him up for that goal. And if you ask me, that’s ridiculous.

I thought Husso managed the game really well. He took whistles whenever possible. And the Blues netminder did an excellent job of controlling rebounds. If I had to choose one word to describe his game, it would be "tidy."

But at the other end, it had to be a tough game for Kuemper to stay engaged in. The Avalanche goaltender went long stretches without facing any shots. And I think it affected him.

Justin Faulk beat Kuemper clean from middle ice at the top of the circles. And Kyrou scored on a two-on-one rush with Brayden Schenn when Kuemper was unable to move laterally in time to make the save.

I didn’t think Kuemper was bad. But he didn’t look sharp on either goal. Faulk’s tally was from a far enough distance that Kuemper should have been able to track the shot all the way to his blocker. And the Colorado netminder was caught flat-footed well outside the blue paint on Kyrou’s goal.

I’ve been in Kuemper’s skates before, and I always thought it was difficult to find any type of rhythm when I wasn’t facing many shots. Tracking the puck became harder. And my movements would become almost tentative.

The hardest part is knowing that every save is magnified. When you aren’t facing much rubber, it means your team is playing well. But if your team is having trouble scoring, the margin for error is thin.

The pressure on Kuemper is real. He’s playing behind an incredibly dynamic Avalanche team that has arguably outplayed opponents in nine of 10 Stanley Cup playoff games thus far. 

Thankfully those games are behind him. But it’s not going to get any easier in the conference final when Colorado faces off against the Edmonton Oilers. I think Kuemper is up to the task. But he’s going to have to find a rhythm early.