SEATTLE — The Avalanche haven’t scored on the power play through three games against the Seattle Kraken. With the series shifted back in their control following a victory on Saturday, head coach Jared Bednar says he’s not entirely worried about the lack of goals on the man advantage.
“It could’ve been better in Game 1 and Game 2. It kind of followed our 5-on-5 play,” Bednar said. “But last game I really liked it. I think if they keep playing with that sort of pace and intensity on the power play and that attack mentality that some will go in for us.”
Superstar forward Mikko Rantanen, who had two even-strength goals, including the empty netter on Saturday, is among the Avs’ best power-play contributors. Bednar noted a play between Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen that he especially liked on their first man-advantage opportunity they had.
Rantanen says he and his teammate have been taking pointers from captain Gabriel Landeskog. The 30-year-old won’t play in the playoffs this season but has been taking part in morning skates in a limited role.
Has Landeskog gotten on them yet for not scoring a power-play goal? Not quite, but, “He might after tonight if we don’t find one,” Rantanen joked.
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First goal
Colorado has trailed early in each of the first three games of the series. Seattle has managed the first goal each time, but the Avs have needed to come from behind twice to win the last two. Bednar has been straightforward about the team’s poor performance in the first four periods of the series. Seattle took a 1-0 series lead following a 3-1 victory in Game 1 and followed it up with a strong 2-0 first period in Game 2. But since then, Colorado has arguably been the better team in every period.
Bednar especially thinks Game 3 was not a slow start like the first two games. And that the team is trending in the right direction to get the first goal — something the Avalanche did a league-leading 54 times in the regular season.
“I thought we were competitive right away, physical, we were on pucks, execution seemed to be fine. We took the early penalty which seemed to give them a little bit of life and they scored right after that,” Bednar said. “When you take the first period as a whole, I don’t like taking the early penalty, especially when you know what the building is going to be like right out of the gate. But I thought we did a nice job after that.
Nieto joins the second line
Forward Matt Nieto has joined the top six in the sudden absence of Valeri Nichushkin (personal reasons). Nieto has filled in formidably, according to Bednar, and is expected to play that role once again. In Game 3, Nieto had two shots and was a plus-1 in 15:16 of ice time — the most since re-joining the Avalanche in January.
“He’s played there earlier in the year when we got him early after the trade,” Bednar said of Nieto playing on a line with center J.T. Compher and Rantanen. “Those two guys like playing with him and he’s played pretty well in this series too. I like the way that line looked the other night.”
