SECOND-PERIOD OUTBURST LIFTS AVS TO GAME 2 WIN
Vaunted offence nowhere to be found as backup goalie Francouz blanks Oilers
AVALANCHE 4,
OILERS 0
Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said before Game 2 that he feels his goalie Mike Smith is more alley cat than a house tabby because “he's a scrapper, a clawer” when fighting his way out of a tough spot.
Certainly Smith and his team were facing a scary situation Thursday knowing if they dropped another game to the Colorado Avalanche to go down two in the Western Conference final, their odds of making it to the Stanley Cup final would be meagre — only a shade more than seven per cent (7-91) with just two teams in the last 57 years rallying.
But the Oilers, who dropped a messy 8-6 Game 1 — the third straight time they opened a series with a loss — unfortunately turned their alley cat goalie's crease into a litter box in a two-minute fall-asleep span early in the second and tumbled 4-0.
They vowed a better response in Game 2 and got it for 23 minutes, but Nazem Kadri, the second banana to Nate Mackinnon in Colorado, then set up three goals in 124 seconds by Artturi Lehkonen, Josh Manson and Mikko Rantanen on a helpless Smith.
One came on a deflection (Lehkonen); the second one 15 seconds later on a screened blast by Manson, whose dad Dave was watching, torn as a parent/coach, from the Oilers bench; the third on a two-on-one (Rantanen).
Mackinnon finished things off in the third on a power play after Smith lost his glove.
A pass by Darnell Nurse to clear the zone ended up on Kadri's stick on the first goal in the second, and on the third, the Oilers got caught on a bad line change with Nurse the only man back.
So, now they are swimming upstream, with a weighted vest. Only the Pittsburgh Penguins (1991) and the New York Islanders (1984) have fallen behind 2-0 in a conference final and come back since the 1965 Chicago Blackhawks.
Smith had struggled in Game 1s against Los Angeles, Calgary and Colorado with a .814 save percentage but he entered Thursday's game against Colorado with a .957 save percentage in the previous two Game 2s.
But he didn't get any help in a battle against Avs backup Pavel Francouz, replacing the injured Darcy Kuemper.
The three goals in 2:04 in the second came on four shots and he didn't have a prayer on any of them.
So, now this is the first time where the Oilers have dipped their toes into the water to start a series where they didn't dive in and come up with a Game 2 win. This wasn't a John Candy-like belly-flop by any means against the Avs, but it's a hurtin' splash because Colorado is a much harder foe than Calgary.
The Avs' speed created chaos for the Oilers for the first half of Game 1 until they chewed their way back.
And while the Oilers matched their feet through the first 20 minutes Thursday, they fell apart in the second, with Woodcroft having to call a timeout after the first two in 15 seconds, with his message to tighten up clearly unheard because there was a quick the 2-on-1 to make it 3-zip. Duncan Keith was going to the bench for a change while partner Evan Bouchard was out of the play and Nurse hopped on for Keith but was the lone soldier back.
Francouz had an exemplary game with Kuemper leaving early in the second period of Game 1 in some distress with an upper body issue. He took a Cody Ceci shot off his mask but Colorado wasn't giving out a medical diagnosis. In his place, they had Francouz, born in the Czech beer town of Pilsen, who is listed at six feet but might be few inches south of that, also a rare right-catcher.
“We're completely confident he can get the job done,” said Avs coach Jared Bednar after the morning skate.
Truer words were never uttered.
Francouz, who turns 32 on Friday, was only playing in his 10th NHL playoff game, with an .891 save percentage before Game 2, but he refused to give the Oilers a sniff. When Woodcroft last saw him live it was the AHL when his Bakersfield Condors were beating the 179-pound tender and the Colorado Eagles in the playoffs.
They weren't beating him Thursday as he heard a chorus of “Frankie, Frankie, Frankie” cheers from the home crowd. This 'n' that: Oilers winger Kailer Yamamoto didn't finish the game, out with an upper body injury, likely on the open-ice hit in the first from Avs captain Gabe Landeskog. He played seven shifts in the first and seven more in the second, 8:28 in all ... Woodcroft got one second- and one third-place vote for coach of year with Calgary's Darryl Sutter winning handily ... Evander Kane punched Manson's boy in the head in the last 90 seconds ...
The Avs also didn't have thirdline winger Andre Burakovsky, who had 61 points in the regular season. He's out with a right foot injury ... The Oilers killed off a 5-on-3 Avs power play for 92 seconds in the opening period, which should have energized them but Colorado's bang-bangbang in the second killed off their hopes ... Zack Kassian got a penalty while on the bench, holding Bo Byram's stick after Byram was hit along the boards ... Refs Dan O'rourke and Frederick L'ecuyer worked together for Game 4 of the Oilers-flames series ... Kris Russell took the pre-game warm-up but the
Oilers didn't go with 11 forwards and seven defence even though Nurse is soldiering though his core muscle issue. They went with the same 12 forwards as Game 1, which means Devin Shore still hasn't played a game in the playoffs and Derick Brassard only one.