Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take.”
The Avalanche could benefit from the wisdom of The Great One when they face the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.
Producing another 100-plus shot attempts in Game 2 — as the Avs did in the opening game of the series Tuesday night — should give Colorado an excellent chance to take a 2-0 series lead heading into Games 3 and 4 in St. Louis.
Generating shots wasn’t a problem in Game 1, a 3-2 overtime triumph for Colorado. The Avs had 106 attempts. Twenty-seven shots were blocked by the Blues in front of Jordan Binnington, while the goalkeeper saved 51 of the remaining 54 shots. Colorado missed the net 25 times, including five shots off the post.
However, the Avs should be aiming to play the same way but with a higher degree of accuracy.
It worked against Nashville in the first round. In-Game 2 against the Preds, Colorado attempted 103 shots. But 34 were blocked in front of Connor Ingram and the goalie stopped 49 of 51. The Avs missed the net 18 times.
In-Game 3 at Nashville, Colorado won 7-3 en route to sweeping the series.
St. Louis, the 2019 Stanley Cup champion, figures to be a more difficult out than Nashville. And the Avs aren’t about to take their foot off the gas pedal.
There will be ebbs and flows in this series if the Avs are prepared properly, coach Jared Bednar said Wednesday. “We can expect their goalie to come up big,” he added. Resilience and mental strength are the keys to coping with setbacks, and we must be prepared for them.”
It all comes down to our core beliefs. As a group, we believe that if we continue to play the right way, it will work out in our favor and you just have to keep going.”
At one point in the first game, the Avs had a 54-25 shot advantage over the Blues and had five shots bounce off the iron behind Binnington, they were on their way to a rout. After a bad bounce gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead, they had to fight back and overcome all the missed chances to win in overtime.
Defenseman Josh Manson, who scored the winning goal 8:02 into overtime, said: “It’s easy to get deflated.” After falling behind 1-0, there was an immediate response, which I believe is a positive sign for a team.
Over there, that’s a solid squad. Many of their players have won championships in the past. As a result, it’s easy to become discouraged when they lose. The good news is that we were able to do it.”
On Tuesday night, Colorado had just one goal from its top-six forwards, but they still lead the series 1-0. First-line centers Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen provided assists on Valeri Nichushkin’s tie-breaking goal. However, the other two goals, including the second from Sam Girard, were scored by defensemen.
That’s a lot of shots for MacKinnon’s line. St. Louis’ top line of Ryan O’Reilly, Brayden Schenn, and David Perron is usually matched up against that line. As far as Bednar is concerned, that’s a victory.
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