Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon was direct in his evaluation of his crew’s effort in a 4-1 Sport 2 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday evening.

“We have been unhealthy. We have been actually unhealthy tonight,” MacKinnon stated with the Western Convention second-round sequence now tied 1-1. “We simply did not have our bounce tonight. However we nonetheless really feel like we’re an excellent crew. We have now to overlook about it and transfer on.”

Though Colorado wanted time beyond regulation to win Sport 1 towards St. Louis, the Avalanche managed that sport. They pumped 54 photographs on Blues goalie Jordan Binnington and had 106 shot makes an attempt on the evening. In Sport 2, they managed 31 photographs and solely 60 whole shot makes an attempt.

“We acquired outworked and outskated,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar stated. “They have been higher and we have been worse. Our greatest situation, particularly early on, was that nobody wished to skate with the puck. They did a pleasant job within the impartial zone, however we did not transfer.”

Once they did have the puck, the Avalanche could not make a lot occur at 5-on-5. Their lone purpose within the sport got here from captain Gabriel Landeskog on the ability play early within the third interval. Perron added one other purpose to make it 3-1 earlier than Brandon Saad ended it with an empty netter.

“Our execution was off. We weren’t feeling it. Simply combating it on the market,” stated MacKinnon. “It is unlucky, however it’s 1-1. We get to go on the street and hopefully steal one there. Hopefully two. We have gotta overlook about it and transfer on and get again to the way in which that we play.”

The Blues entered Sport 2 with a totally totally different strategy than within the earlier sport. They did not overcommit on their forecheck, leaving defenders again to clog the impartial zone and supply puck help within the defensive zone. Additionally they managed the puck higher. As soon as they entered the Colorado zone, they made the Avalanche defend greater than they did in Sport 1.

Extra importantly, St. Louis added to their lead after they had the chance, going up 2-0 on a David Perron 5-on-3 power-play purpose late within the second interval.

“I’ve seen all of it yr. We’re a superb crew. They know in Sport 1 they did not do nicely sufficient, and all yr they’ve responded,” stated Blues coach Craig Berube.

Now the stress falls on the Avalanche, and a few of it’s the stress of current historical past.

Colorado has been eradicated within the second spherical three straight seasons. Within the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Avalanche swept the Blues within the first spherical, dominated the Vegas Golden Knights in Sport 1 of the second spherical, after which ended up shedding in six video games.

This postseason, they swept the Nashville Predators, managed Sport 1 of the second spherical after which noticed the Blues flip the script and even the sequence forward of Sport 3 on Saturday evening in St. Louis.

MacKinnon stated the Avalanche are decided to not let historical past repeat itself.

“I believe, years previous, we would dwell on it and get down on ourselves and one another. We simply acquired to select one another up and transfer on and keep optimistic,” MacKinnon stated. “We have now an excellent crew. We nonetheless consider we will get this factor carried out and win the sequence. We’re not going to brush each spherical. It is tremendous.”