The Colorado Avalanche won their second-straight game this season. However, the club failed to impress overall as they lacked the knockout punch needed to put the game away for good.
The Colorado Avalanche won their second game in a row on Sunday night, this time against the San Jose Sharks 4-1 at the SAP Center.
The win, while looking good on paper, lacked the exclamation mark needed to officially declare the Avs out of their season-opening funk. So, let’s take a look at why the Colorado Avalanche failed to impress in their 4-1 win against the San Jose Sharks.
The Colorado Avalanche failed to impress despite winning two straight
The Avalanche beat a winless team
It’s no secret that the San Jose Sharks are arguably the worst team in the league. Of course, the Sharks have talented players. However, they are very much a rebuilding team and are currently light-years away from contending.
Entering Sunday night’s game, the Sharks were 0-3-2 and officially on a five-game losing streak. They had scored 11 goals and given up 22. That paints a pretty bleak picture of where the Sharks are headed. So, had the Avs blown out the Sharks, say, 6-1 or 8-2, the narrative would be different. The Avs pounded a team that was far beneath them.
Instead, the Sharks pushed and made the game uncomfortably close. The score was 2-1 heading into the third. Then, Joel Kiviranta scored to give the Avs some breathing room. An empty netter made it 4-1. In reality, the score was 3-1, signaling the Sharks didn’t play as badly as the final score suggested.
The second period was a mess for Colorado
The momentum shifted in the second period. The Avs entered the middle frame leading 2-1 after a strong first period. It looked like the Avalanche were going to sail away with the victory.
But then, the Avs ran into penalty trouble. After failing to score on a 5-on-3 power play, the Avalanche took a number of penalties, facing a 5-on-3 penalty kill of their own. While the Avs deserve kudos for killing it off, that constant penalty-killing effort derailed the momentum the Avalanche had built up during the first period.
Ultimately, the Avs locked down the game in the third, but it was needlessly close when the Avs could have put the game to bed much earlier.
Annunen and Colton were the bright spots
Despite the failure to impress as a whole, two players stood out. First, Ross Colton continues his torrid pace. Since moving up to the top unit, Colton has been on fire. He’s scored four goals in two games. That sort of production has allowed the top line to continue being productive even without Jonathan Drouin.
Also, Justus Annunen delivered the goaltending performance Avs fans have been waiting all year long. Annunen looked sharp, especially during the barrage of penalties in the second period. In fact, it was Annunen who made the penalty kills possible. Had he faltered, the Sharks could have upset the Avs on Sunday night.
Instead, Annunen stood tall (literally and figuratively), helping the Avs improve to 2-4. The Avs' next game will come against the Seattle Kraken. Alexandar Georgiev should be back in goal. But there’s a chance that coach Jared Bednar could ride the hot hand and give Annunen a second-straight start.
Given the way things are going now, Bednar would be wise to keep rolling with Annunen.
