Avalanche Room: More Traffic Needed, Another ‘Stubborn’ Third

Avalanche Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev

Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar

THOUGHTS ON THE THIRD AND NO GOALS?

“Probably the same reason why we didn’t get them earlier on in the game. They’re checking hard and they were above everything. Obviously very disciplined in their structure in the third period, especially when they didn’t need any more to win. Kind of waited for us to force some stuff and make some mistakes to create their scoring chances. But I think the story is earlier in the game. I felt like we carried some long stretches of the game for the first 40 minutes. My one take would be we’ve got to make it a little bit tougher and Oettinger, getting traffic there. We were there at times, tough to track down some of those rebounds, shots were blocked, but we were skating, competing, earning power plays. Would have been nice to capitalize on one of those early power plays and take the lead. We were unable to do that. And then second (period), I felt like we had some stretches again that were really good, but got to find a way to put one in the back of the net.

We had a couple of really good looks in the first and didn’t do it. We had a couple of really good looks in the second and next thing you know, we’re down by one. Just kind of feels like we push push, push and then we make one mistake and then ended up in the back of the net in the second. It was unfortunate, but you can make those mistakes against Dallas because they have the ability to … you don’t need to give them a bunch of rush chances to put it in the back of the net with their skill.”

ANYTHING DIFFERENT ABOUT THEIR DEFENSIVE STRUCTURE?

“Yeah, I think it’s the same thing. The penalty kill has gotten more aggressive, but they’re always super aggressive in the d-zone coming at you. You’ve got to be able to sort of get your eyes up, make a play with some poise and support in order to create the scoring chances. But again, through 40 minutes, I think we did that. You’ve got to find a way to solve Oettinger tonight earlier on in the game and part of it I think is trying to get a little bit more traffic. We made some plays, broke them and had some really clean looks but we misfired on a few, we had a few blocked, he made some saves. That’s the difference in the hockey game.”

FRUSTRATED AFTER THE PUSH AND THEN DALLAS MADE IT 2-1?

“I thought we worked hard the whole night. I didn’t sense any frustration. We were competitive. We were skating. I think the third period our execution wasn’t great. Part of that was probably (being) a little bit stubborn with some plays instead of working in the red and putting it in behind him and trying to get forecheck going. We turned some pucks over and they came back our way. A little sloppy with the puck coming out of our end too. But again, you’re working through five guys there. We did a better job a bit earlier in the game though.”

POWERPLAY HAS TO TURN AROUND FOR YOU?

“Yep, could have been a difference maker for us, especially early in the game. Not that we didn’t create any looks. I think MacK had one blocked with an empty net. You bypass their pressure once off a face-off and we’re alone down low and threw it back into traffic. Like I saw, I think the powerplay, that last little bit of execution and recognition earlier on in the game, if it was a little better, we probably get a few better looks there. But you have to work for support, and try to break them through the middle of the ice a bit when they’re going to pressure like that. You know, but they do a nice job with their sticks and the pressure is coming at you quickly, so you got to be crisp with the puck, and I just felt like we just weren’t quite there tonight with it.”

ARE MISSED PASSES ABOUT FORCING THEM OR LACK OF EXECUTION?

“I think it’s probably a little bit of both. The windows are narrower. You’re playing second round of the playoffs. The pressure’s coming, sticks are better, everyone’s dialed into the details, but there’s still plays to be made there, I feel like, in a handful of instances that might have led to some good looks.”

WERE YOU HAPPIER WITH THE PERFORMANCES OF NATHAN MACKINNON AND MIKKO RANTANEN?

“Yeah, no question. I thought MacK was really good tonight. I thought he was working both sides of the puck, he had jump early in the game, obviously to make a great play on our goal. So yeah, I thought he was dangerous and controlling play.”