As the Avalanche turn the page on their forgettable performance Saturday at Falcon Stadium, their opinion on certain aspects of the game remain strong. Particularly the two minor penalties called which nullified both power-play opportunities they had at the 2020 NHL Stadium Series.
Colorado started hot, outshooting the Los Angeles Kings 13-1 in the opening 10 minutes. In the midst of their shooting barrage, the Avs had the games’ first power play when Jeff Carter was called for hooking at 7:07. But the man-advantage lasted just three seconds because captain Gabe Landeskog was called for tripping off the ensuing faceoff.
The same thing happened midway through the third period when Colorado, working on its second power-play opportunity, took a penalty 17 seconds later. The interference call on Andre Burakovsky quickly shifted the momentum. Los Angeles went on to score the game-winner with 55 seconds remaining on its way to a 3-1 upset victory.
Avs superstar Nathan MacKinnon had strong feelings about the penalties, saying both could go either way and questioning the timing of the calls. Landeskog disagreed with his teammate on one call but echoed his sentiments on the second.
“The first one on me, I think it’s a penalty,” Landeskog said. “Because he falls and if Cale (Makar) gets that puck and walks up the middle it could be a potential scoring chance so I think they have to call that.
“The second one, I didn’t like that call. I don’t know, I think it just looked worse than it really was. Burky is entitled to his ice and I think if he stops in his tracks they wouldn’t have called it. But Burky kind of came in with a little bit of speed and was skating for it and (Kings defenseman Drew) Doughty is backing up. I think if Burky stops there and Doughty backs up into him it’s not a penalty.”
Burakovsky was setting up onside in his usual spot near center ice as MacKinnon was rushing the puck into the offensive zone – a set play the Avalanche use regularly with the man-advantage.
“I mean, it’s unfortunate,” Burakovsky said. “My situation, I’m going to my spot where I’m supposed to stand and in my opinion, he backs straight into me. I’m not really making any move to hit him or try to be in his way. I’m just trying to go to my spot and he doesn’t even look at me – he just skates right into me and I get the penalty. It is what it is. Stuff like that happens we just got to find ways to not get in those situations and be able to capitalize on the power play but last game wasn’t our best and we got to bounce back from that and do a better job in every aspect.”
No other penalties were called the rest of the way. The Avalanche’s power play, which had scored in each of the previous three games, had a combined 20 seconds all night.
“That second one definitely sucked at that point of the game,” Landeskog said. “It would’ve been nice to get a power-play chance that could be the difference-maker. Bottom line, mine is clumsy and Burky’s, well, I don’t know. It could go either way. Bad penalties I guess.”
