Recap: Star Struck
By Richard Gonzalez
The Colorado Avalanche are starting to heat up as they defeated the Dallas Stars 4-0 in their second round-robin game at the Western Hub rink in Edmonton. The Avalanche looked a lot better in this game and are looking like they are about to catch fire going into game three of the round-robin and into the elimination round.
The Game:
The Avalanche struck earlier in the period as Cale Makar scored his first (PPG) in the round-robin game at the 3:19 mark. Later in the period, Joonas Donskoi would score (15:29) with a “beautiful” backhand hand shot as the Stars penalty expired. The second period saw the Avalanche continue their dictation of the game as trade deadline pickup, Vladislav Namestnikov (17:20), scored another goal to extend the Avalanche’s lead to 3-0. Burakovsky (1:31) would exceed the Avalanche’s lead to 4-0, as he scored a second power-play goal of the game in the third. Pavel Francouz would do the rest as he blanked the Stars stopping all 40 shots.
Stats:
Nathan Mackinnon, Gabriel Landeskog, Nazem Kadri, and Mikko Rantanen each had an assist. Samuel Girard had two assists and Burakovsky, who was demoted to the third line, had a goal and assists as did Donskoi. Stars’ Esa Lindell had a game-high of 26:36 and Mackinnon lead the Avalanche in shots (six) and Makar led in them in ice time (21:51).
NHL’s three stars of the game:
Francouz, 40-save shutout.
Burakovsky, goal, and assist.
Donskoi, goal, and assist.
Not to take anything away from Francouz because a shutout is hard to get for any goalie, especially in the NHL, but I did not think the Stars shots were that quality and more quantity. I would have him as the number two star and move Burakovsky as the number one. Burakovsky was flying all game and was the best player on the ice.
Analysis:
“Dallas couldn’t keep up with us today,” Andre Burakovsky via Altitude Sports.
I mentioned in the game’s preview that the Avalanche needed to figure out the power play and they did. They scored two power-play goals on five chances, they looked more in control with the puck and keep things simple. The Stars seemed like a step behind the play the whole game. This was the best game the Avalanche have played this “playoffs.” The Avalanche’s top players have not even started to catch fire and when they do, it is going to be a “s” storm for any team that plays them.
Video Game Recap: Avs Blank Stars
Next Game:
The Avalanche (home) will play the Las Vegas Golden Knights (away) Saturday, Aug. 8, 2020, the time is TBD.
Fan headline by @SURGINGbob
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August 7th, 2020