Garbage goals, and lucky bounces, and the Avs find themselves one game away from elimination. If someone has told me before the start of the series that we would be down 1-3 after four games, I don’t think I would have believed them. The Avalanche team that we have seen versus the Dallas Stars has not been the team that we have seen throughout the entirety of the season. Are the Stars the better club? No, they are luckier. If the some of the bounces had gone the other way, this could be a very different series.
Dallas has done an excellent job capitalizing on opportunities, where the Avs have not. They crash the net, rather than finesse the puck for the prettiest shot. The Avs are an extremely skilled team, and Dallas has been able to shut us down and push the puck into the net.
In Game 4 the Avs gave up three goals in the first period, and didn’t even generate a shot on goal until late in the 1st. Despite a tough start the Avs fought back and trailed 2-3 entering the third after Makar scored a quick 5-3 power play goal. Sadly, it was Makar who bumbled the puck that allowed Gurianov to score on the turnover, giving the Stars a 5-3 lead halfway through the thrid. As usual, the Avs didn’t give up, and had a strong end of the period, even scoring a goal with four seconds left, but it wasn’t enough. The Avs fell 4-5, and now trail 1-3 in the series.
“I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed,” is how I would describe my current mood, which is to say it’s worse than being mad. I wasn’t swearing and hurling my uneaten pizza at the TV, simply sitting in silence as I watched the series get away from us. If this was last season, I could at least console myself thinking we are lucky to be where we are. But we aren’t lucky to be where we are, we deserve to be here and have seen the team play great hockey all season long, and now it’s as if you blink and all of a sudden we are down two goals. I know I need glasses, but with how quickly the scores changes, I keep thinking maybe I need to go to the eye doctor ASAP, but it’s not my eyes deceiving me (I wish they were), it is the Avs. I am not sure where the Avs we know are, but they have not been in Rodger’s Place this series. Even when we won Game 3, we still blew a two-goal lead, and had to come from behind to win.
For the first time this season, the Avs are not looking good.
Trailing three games to one is never where you want to be in the playoffs, particularly when the series has been as volatile as this one. That’s not to say it is impossible. The last team to overcome a 3-1 deficit was only last year, and it was the San Jose Sharks vs. the Vegas Golden Knights in Round 1. And we all know how the momentum from that series win carried over for San Jose in the second round…
The Avs are certainly able to come back from this, but by the looks of it, it won’t be easy. If the Avs can play a full 60-minute hockey game, we will stand a chance. The Avs are capable of so much more than we have seen this series, and we can only hope that Jared Bednar can find his hockey club, and ensure that they all show up for Monday night’s game. And Wednesday’s. And Friday’s.
It’s time that the puck bounced in our favor, and as my sign that I still have from 20 years ago says, “DUMP DALLAS”! LET’S GO AVS!