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The Edmonton Oilers looked great against the Calgary Flames, but have they met their match in Colorado? It’s too early to write them off entirely, but there’s no question that Edmonton has been the lesser team in the Western Conference Final thus far.
After dropping Game 1, in some ways Game 2 was worse for Edmonton. The Oilers’ superstars were effectively shutdown in the 4-0 loss. Edmonton managed just 24 shots on goal, including two for Connor McDavid and three for Leon Draisaitl. Both of them saw their nine-game point streaks come to an end.
At the other end of the ice, goaltender Mike Smith didn’t have a bad game so much as the Oilers’ defense let him down. To be fair to Edmonton, it was mostly one bad stretch, but it was a really bad stretch. Over the course of 2:04 minutes in the second period, Edmonton broke down and allowed three unanswered goals.
Colorado’s final goal, which was scored by Nathan MacKinnon on the power play late in the third period was something of a fluke. Smith lost his glove while making an earlier save, so he was in an awkward situation when MacKinnon took his shot.
Taking things as a whole, this game highlighted the Avalanche’s balance compared to Edmonton. Colorado has a strong defense, even with goaltender Darcy Kuemper (upper body) unavailable, they have a great alternative in Pavel Francouz, and of course, the Avalanche are perfectly capable of matching the Oilers offensively.
If there’s a silver lining here for the Oilers its that these games were played in Colorado. The series will now go to Edmonton and we’ll see if that breathes new life into the Oilers.
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COLORADO 4 EDMONTON 0 (Avalanche lead series 2-0)
As noted above, Kuemper wasn’t available for Thursday’s game, but Francouz did a fantastic job filling the void. He stopped the 24 shots he faced. Francouz was his busiest in the first period when the shots were 14-13 in favor of the Avalanche. Even though Edmonton entered the third period down 3-0, the Oilers couldn’t get anything going. Colorado still outshot them 14-5 in the final frame.
At the other end of the ice, Mike Smith turned aside 36 of 40 shots. He wasn’t bad in this game all things considered, though his last few contests certainly haven’t been kind to him statistically. He’s surrendered 14 goals over his last three starts.
Nazem Kadri provided the primary assist in each of the Avalanche’s first three goals. He’s up to six goals and 14 points in 12 playoff contests.
Artturi Lehkonen scored the game-winning goal and registered an assist. He has five markers and eight points in 12 postseason games.
Mikko Rantanen also had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche. That gives him three goals and 15 playoff contests.
Nathan MacKinnon and Josh Manson each scored a goal for Colorado. The Avalanche also got an assist from each of Cale Makar and Gabriel Landeskog.
