AVS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO TAKE SPACE AND TIME FROM MCDAVID
Colorado has shown it has the horses, desire to rein in Oilers' franchise player
No time, no space.
For Connor Mcdavid, we're not used to typing those four words. He creates his own room even if there's nothing there, no matter if he's wearing a cheap-suit checker with those crazy spin moves, like last series against Calgary when they were flailing and failing to stop him.
But Colorado's a different beast in this final-four matchup, up
2-0, as we're finding. They're good, really good. Especially Cale Makar and Devon Toews, the
Avs' top defence tandem, who would have been Olympic team partners if the NHL had greenlighted going to China. And if it's not them, everybody in a purple jersey seems to be in Mcdavid's face and he's taking punishment.
He's dishing it out, too, like that hellacious hit on Andrew Cogliano by the bench in Game 2.
Never count Mcdavid out. His will to win is every bit as high as the Avs' Nate Mackinnon. He could score two and set up a third in Game 3, taking over a game with his 29 points in 14 games.
But this isn't a January game in Arizona. This is June, a few short steps from the Stanley Cup final, and the Avs are treating him with the respect befitting the best player on the planet, but in hockey's Mile High City, they're also clearly sucking some of the life out of Mcdavid
As Craig Mactavish, the former Oilers coach, said, “being a superstar is exhausting.”
While the Oilers have talked about playoff lessons for the last month, the real lesson is coming against the Avs, who appear deeper and have a defence that gets the puck out of their zone and up ice in a hurry.
The Oilers defence, with Darnell Nurse absolutely compromised with his core muscle problem and a shadow of his usual self after the collision with the Avs' J.T. Compher in late April, is not as adept at moving north with the puck under incessant Avs pressure.
The Oilers need Mcdavid's `A' game to keep playing in this playoff tournament, but the Avs are all over him.
“Probably haven't been at the top of my game here,” admitted Mcdavid after getting three points in Game 1 but held without a point in Game 2, only the second time that's happened in the post-season.
In Game 2, the Nazem Kadri line burned them for three goals in two minutes and Mackinnon got the better of Mcdavid in their much-hyped battle, with 11 shots and a goal on Mike Smith to Mcdavid's two shots in the 4-0 Avs win. Mcdavid is trying, but he's human and up against a real force.
“They've got good players, good D-men. We haven't had a ton of chances off the rush.”
Mcdavid always gets rush chances, but a sign of how good Makar is came in Game 2's first minute when Mcdavid burst up ice, looked like he had a step on Makar as he went wide, but the game's best skating defenceman swept the puck off his stick.
Makar and Toews (How did the Avs steal this guy from the Islanders for two draft picks?) might be the NHL'S best defence pair.
“They were fantastic, setting gaps, just getting up and not giving them (Mcdavid and also Leon Draisaitl, back in the middle to start the game but together in the third period) any room to move on the rush coverage,” said Colorado coach Jared Bednar.
“Also a lot of work by the forwards to set that up, making sure we're above things and that they could read the numbers and read through the rush.
“Getting gapped up on the right guys (Mcdavid and Draisaitl) right away without giving them time and space so they're able to strike on pucks in the defensive zone.”
Makar, battling Nashville's Roman Josi for the Norris Trophy, and Toews have more tools than most pairs.
“Both really intelligent, both can obviously skate,” said Bednar. “They think the game well, so they're closing quickly. Using their skating to defend those guys is key. They don't make a lot of puck mistakes, either, to let Edmonton extend zone time or whatever. If they don't have anything, they throw it out in the zone and live to fight another day.”
Mackinnon took some hits in Game 2, with Brett Kulak elbowing him hard, a price the stars pay. And the Avs are using Mackinnon, Gabe Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin against Mcdavid most shifts, too.
“I don't think Nate's getting enough credit for what he's doing. I look at Nate and I see a guy that's totally committed to winning. It doesn't matter if he's the guy getting on the scoresheet or not, he hasn't cheated one time in this series,” said Bednar.
“Offensively, he's getting on the right side of the puck. He's still finding a way to contribute, but it's a whole team effort. You don't just check them with two guys. So all five guys on the ice have bought into it.”
The Oilers are a big rush team, especially Mcdavid, but they've choked a lot of that off. Mcdavid is having to fight through layers in the Colorado zone to get to the net.
“That was the big thing we talked about before the series, because we know they're a really fast team and they like to get some chances on the rush. We've tried to take their time and space away in the neutral zone. We have to keep doing the exact same thing. But it's far from over,” said Kadri.
Indeed, Mcdavid may have something to say yet.
This 'n' that: Oilers winger Zack Kassian got fined for knocking Bo Byram's helmet off while sitting on the bench late in Game 2. He might also have been holding the fine young defender's stick ... No supplementary discipline for Landeskog hitting Kailer Yamamoto in open ice, knocking him out with an upper body injury.