ST. LOUIS, MO. — Before filing a buzzer-beating story and heading down to the locker room, I included the Avalanche’s shot count after two periods (11) in the story and felt like I should make a bigger deal about the team’s seemingly passive third-period play in trying to dig out of a manageable 3-1 deficit. I saw the big push in the final minutes, but I saw little passion and a lot of breakout/neutral-zone errors before that. Which is why I didn’t agree with coach Patrick Roy’s postgame stance. Judge for yourself:
The with quotes.
Early in the second period, shots were 12-10 in a 1-1 game. And then? Avs captain Gabe Landeskog: “Our second period wasn’t good enough. We stopped moving our feet. We weren’t executing passes. We weren’t supporting each other. That’s what happens — you look like you’re a slow team and that was the case tonight.”
About falling five points behind Minnesota with five remaining games, Landeskog said: “We’re going to stay positive. We’re going to work our hardest to make sure we get wins and climb in the standings.”
Colorado’s lone goal snapped St. Louis’ shutout streak of four-plus games:
