Close your eyes, step into the skates of an Avalanche player and contemplate your decision Monday night in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs: Establish dominance or turn the other cheek?
Colorado held a four-goal lead in the third period of their 6-2 victory when Calgary frustration boiled over inside . The Flames committed seven penalties — hooking, roughing (3) and 10-minute misconduct (3) — over a span of 11 minutes. Frustration fouls. Matthew Tkachuk tackled to the ice. Sam Bennett sucker-punched while being broken up by an official. The list goes on.
“That was painful,” forward said. “Every whistle there was a scrum.”
knows better. The ninth-year NHL defenseman hoisted a pair of Stanley Cups with the Penguins (2016 and ’17) before joining the Avalanche this season. Cole is prepared when an opponent lashes out with hopes of a power-play inducing retaliation.
“Everybody tries to send a message,” Cole said. “The best way we can handle it is to acknowledge it, laugh in their face — don’t obviously get bullied — but let them do whatever they want to do and don’t fall into that trap. … First and foremost, protect yourself. Second of all, don’t take a penalty doing it, as best you can, or at least getting (the penalties) evened up. I think we actually did a pretty good job of that.”
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The Avs were most penalized in the third period with five total. None were more polarizing than defenseman ‘s de-facto ejection. He took down Calgary forward Garnet Hathaway with a headlock during a scrum and both earned 10-minute misconduct calls with 5 minutes to go.
“Itap emotional and the game gets out of hand with power play goals and whatnot,” coach said. “It just seemed like it was chippy. So there’s some frustration there. Every team does it. We’re just trying to stay out of it and making sure that we’re not giving them opportunities to get back in the game with their power play. Itap dangerous.”
The Avalanche now turns its attention to Game 4 on Wednesday night with the potential for another slugfest.
“We’ve just got to bring that same energy and that same pace,” forward said. “We know that the series is far from over.”
