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Red-hot Avs chase Bryzgalov in second period

Minnesota Wild v Colorado Avalanche - Game One

in Game One of the First Round of the 2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Pepsi Center on April 17, 2014 in Denver, Colorado.

Doug Pensinger

There are probably situations in between, but you can generalize that a goalie gets pulled for one of two reasons: a) he’s allowing goals because he isn’t playing well or b) he’s allowing goals because his team isn’t playing well.

Again, maybe it’s a mixture of the two, but the general vibe was that the Minnesota Wild hung Ilya Bryzgalov out to dry against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 2 on Saturday. Bryzgalov allowed three goals on 14 shots in a shade less than 32 minutes of game time.

Take a look at that trio of goals by Colorado and determine how much blame Breezy deserves. (Darcy Kuemper came in relief for Bryzgalov, by the way.)

Really, though, when you consider that Nathan MacKinnon and Paul Stastny collected points on all three goals while Gabriel Landeskog scored two of them, maybe we should provide c) the other team is just that dangerous.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins