Sailing in the winning streak of nine matches, Colorado made an incredible full turn in its defensive and goalkeeping game after the turn of the year. For the spring playoffs, that translation was necessary.
Clearly, playing NHL champion favorite Colorado Avalanche went too far into the enchantment hoop in the fall season. The scores and goals often changed between teams in a way that was sure to get the coaching team’s high blood pressure. Colorado drummed up terrible goals, but his own head year in the fall in terms of championship dreams in a worrying way.
At the turn of the year, Colorado had conceded 3.37 goals per match and placed 27th in the league.
And at least the fall season didn’t allay the doubts the team had about the goalkeeper department during the season. First guard Darcy Kuemper had played in Arizona at a high level in recent years, but the October-December period is not directly convincing. It was also found in 90.7% of the control.
However, Colorado has completely reversed the direction of its sled in this regard during the New Year.
Since the first day of the New Year, the team has conceded the fewest goals in the league, at just 2.38 hits per game. The difference for the fall season is the full amount of goals per game. The change in this regard is huge.
– There has been a lot of talk about defensive play. Attempts have been made to get it in such a condition that it would be at its best in the spring. It has been focused on and it has gone in a better direction. Even after the winning games, videos have been watched that there is still room for improvement. It is a good approach that the level of requirements is high, Mikko Rantanen says Sport.
The fourth time you really say?
In Colorado, and especially in Rantanen, it is clear in mind why the game needs to be fixed before the real games. The Avalanchelle, which lost only seven of the 49 matches in the regular season after the turn of the year, is not eligible for a win other than the Stanley Cup this season.
This was also the case last season, but then the road was full for the third round of the playoffs – for the third time in a row.
– Don’t forget that and I often say that we will remember it. We have lost at the same time for three years and there has always been room for hope in terms of defensive play. Now we have started to learn from mistakes and whether it is necessary or else it is quite stupid, Rantanen laughs.
– Defense is above all a matter of emotion and will. Of course, there has to be a good way to play and that is the responsibility of the coaches. The implementation is left to the players and it has worked well for us because everyone is committed to it. There is a good feeling in the team right now and that is the most important thing.
There is still room for improvement.
During its spring winter and long winning streak, Colorado has won matches it might not have deserved to win based on the events of the game. As the enchantment phase strikes the eye, the game still continues to flow recklessly in both directions at times.
While the Avalanche has won a lot in the year 2022, it has also given more than 12 top-of-the-box finishers per hour it plays against five out of five. The ranking in this regard is 26th, which is the weakest of the playoff teams. Its ratio of dangerous targets reaches only 48 percent.
On the other hand, a game of superiority operating at almost 30 percent power has saved the team often, and there is no appeal in a game of underpower either. The patient has also had key players, such as Gabriel Landeskog and Nazem Kadri.
Rantanen and the team seem to be on top of the situation.
– There have been winning games here where we haven’t played very well. The team is really honest about it and even though there are winning songs and more in the booth, there are no terrible parties there after such games. We also realize that the Regular Series means nothing, it was seen three years ago with Tampa Bay, Rantanen recalls.
– Not here to start laughing yet.
Feather hat for the parking lot
If special situations have been a strength for Colorado in the spring winter, the same can be said for the goalkeeper game. Colorado goalkeeper coach Jussi Parkkilan Darcy Kuemper, who has worked hard with his game, has been in a terrible mood in 2022. Kuemper has been almost the best goalkeeper in the entire league in the spring.
The profit balance for the new year is a handsome 23-4-3, with the rejection rate rising to 93.4 percent. There have been five zero games in the account.
– Gymnastics is a good term. We’ve done a lot of work with him playing it and it’s pretty different now than it used to be. We’ve also learned some pretty basic stuff and most of all, how he could make playing it easier for himself. Now the work has begun to bear fruit and his courage to use new stuff has increased, Parkkila opens.
The car park has wanted the 31-year-old Kuemper to make better use of its large size.
– Now he plays more outdoors, and is not so much halfway between the goalkeeper’s area. We’ve been through a lot of game reading issues and ranking. When he’s about big and reads the game well, there’s not much to do. The shots hit the body forcibly. His playing has become much calmer, Parkkila praises.
However, editing a game for an experienced NHL veteran is not always easy. Especially if the player and the goalkeeper coach do not know each other. However, for the spring season, the duo deserve a big melt in their hat.
– It’s art with how much you dare to change the game of a guy this age. Certainly from the beginning of the season I went with it with a little risk. That journey has to be a moment together when we don’t know any of each other. That’s how we get to the same rhythm. He has received things nicely and deserves praise for raising the level.
One hundred full for Rantanen?
Colorado has secured a victory for both the division and the conference. In Finnish, the excitement of the last rounds culminates in whether Rantanen will reach a hundred points in six matches in 91 (36 + 55) power points. The previous Finn, who has reached 100 power points, is Teemu Selännewho reached as many as 109 (51 + 58) points in the 2006-2007 Anaheim Championship season.
– I can’t say it means anything. Would definitely take a head if I stayed 99 on the surface. I think it annoys anyone to stay in the 49th place, for example. Certainly Auston Matthewsiakin annoying if he misses 59 hits. But how annoying it is, hardly anyone will start crying about it. You can’t start trying too much like that, then at least it won’t.
– I won’t sell my land if I don’t get a hundred, because the focus is so hard on the playoffs, Rantanen concludes.