Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

MacKinnon: Avs ‘shut ourselves down’ in Game 3, not Wild

Colorado Avalanche v New York Rangers

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 04: Nathan MacKinnon #29 of the Colorado Avalanche in action against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on February 4, 2014 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Avalanche 5-1. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Getty Images

The Avalanche didn’t score a goal in Monday’s Game 3 loss to Minnesota -- the first time they’ve been shut out since Mar. 21 -- and rookie sensation Nathan MacKinnon thinks he knows why.

“It wasn’t them that shut us down. I think it was us that shut ourselves down,” MacKinnon said, per the Denver Post. “They played hard, but for us it was more what we weren’t doing than what they were doing.

“We got away from what made us successful.”

Monday’s 1-0 defeat was a stark change of pace for MacKinnon and the Avs. Colorado racked up nine goals in the opening two games of the series, sparked by the MacKinnon-Paul Stastny-Gabriel Landeskog line which combined for six points and 17 points in a pair of wins at the Pepsi Center.

But two mitigating factors from the opening contests are no longer in play. One, games are now being played at the Xcel Energy Center, where Minnesota went 26-10-5 this season. Two, Ilya Bryzgalov is no longer in goal, and he’s the guy the Avs torched for all nine of those goals.

Darcy Kuemper, the guy that replaced Byrzgalov, has been perfect in over 90 minutes of action thus far, stopping all 36 shots while recording the first postseason shutout in Wild franchise history. He also helped silence the Colorado power play on Monday, as the Avs went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.

In trying to correct that issue, the Avs are looking inward as well. While Patrick Roy acknowledged the good work Minnesota’s done on the kill -- “they’re doing a really good job, and putting a lot of pressure on our forwards,” he said -- the Avs head coach also thinks his players are holding back a bit.

“We’re going to try to move that puck quicker,” he explained. “Sometimes, when you’re practicing, guys are afraid to put shots on net. We’re going to try to put more shots on net and have more traffic and make it a little tougher for their goalie.”