Colorado
‘It’s Not a Penalty’: Bednar Rips Officials For MacKinnon Ejection | Colorado Hockey Now
Head coach Jared Bednar is often calm and calculated during his postgame press conferences. But his frustrations were made loud and clear on Tuesday, following the Avalanche’s 4-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Ball Arena in a game that saw superstar center Nathan MacKinnon get ejected late in the second period.
With the Avs on the power play trailing 2-1, MacKinnon entered the Oilers’ zone with speed and received an east-to-west pass from Martin Necas. MacKinnon’s shot went wide, but with little space to maneuver because Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse was cutting in on him, MacKinnon barreled into goalie Connor Ingram and was handed a five-minute major and a game misconduct.
“[MacKinnon] makes the play on the puck, and I got his toes cutting up ice probably through the top of the paint, and Ingram’s on the goal line. There’s no chance that he hits the goalie if Nurse doesn’t run into him. He’s not hitting the goalie,” Bednar said, after watching his team fall to 43-11-9 on the season.
Ingram left the game with an injury and did not return.
“I don’t care if he’s injured, not injured, if it’s a severe crash, not a severe crash. It’s not a penalty,” Bednar said. “If you put guys in your own goalie, it’s not a penalty.”
The MacKinnon call prematurely ended the Avs’ second power play of the night. They successfully killed off the 4:05 remaining on the major and tied the game, but couldn’t secure a point.
Ross Colton, Necas, and Valeri Nichushkin had Colorado’s goals. Unfortunately for Colton, he left the game with an upper-body injury in the second period and did not return.
“He took a shot from a player during the game and he kind of tightened up so he’s got an upper-body injury. Hopefully he loosens up for tomorrow and can play in Seattle,” Bednar said.
Mackenzie Blackwood started for the Avs after getting pulled in Dallas two games ago. He let in three goals on his first 10 shots before locking in later in the game. Blackwood made several big stops during the lengthy PK before Nichushkin tied it up. But it still wasn’t enough. Blackwood finished with 20 saves.
The Oilers finished 2-for-4 on the power play, getting the game-winning goal from Connor McDavid on a spectacular give-and-go with Leon Draisaitl with 10:57 remaining in regulation. Both of them finished with two points, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had two goals.
Colorado had a power play after that, but could not capitalize. Necas’ tally came on the PP earlier in the evening, and the Avs finished 1-for-3. Colton’s goal came just 24 seconds into the first period, which snapped his nine-game goalless drought.
All of the Avalanche’s best plays were in the first and third periods. The second was a different story.
“I’ll give you an example, three or four times at the start of the second period, we try to go in on a rush, and we lose it and change, and they get odd-man rushes and a scoring chance against,” Bednar said. “You can’t do that. You can’t do that against anybody, never mind the best offensive team in the league.”
Edmonton also played with a shortened bench. On top of losing Ingram to an injury, forward Colton Dach, and defenseman Ty Emberson also left with ailments and did not return. From the moment MacKinnon was ejected, the pace of the game changed. Frustrations were noticeable on both sides.
“It was a great game up until that,” Nazem Kadri said. “I think it was a good battle out there. Players were playing hard and, you know, it’s unfortunate that’s how it’s gotta end.”
Kadri was also vehemently against the MacKinnon call.
“I think Nate makes an effort. He’s diving across the top of the crease to try to get out of the way, like that’s a part of the rule for the player to at least make some sort of attempt. There was clear contact. I have no idea how that was a five-minute,” he said.
Good: Nichushkin Is Heating Up
When he’s been available to play, there haven’t been many bad stretches for Nichushkin. His on-ice production has been solid over the past three regular seasons. But this year, the 30-year-old veteran forward has had tough stretches. Entering the break, and coming out of it, Nichushkin wasn’t producing at the rate he usually does.
Over the past three games, he’s looked more like the power forward that we’ve grown accustomed to. And he’s gotten rewarded for it on the scoresheet.
Bad: The Penalty
I had a hard time deciphering if it was or wasn’t a penalty on MacKinnon when it first happened. I watched replays, I slowed them down, and I started to form an opinion.
But regardless of whether MacKinnon should’ve been called for anything, it shouldn’t have been a five. That part I can’t wrap my head around.
Bednar was frustrated and asked about it again. He added, “I really don’t give a crap if the goalies hurt. That’s on their D.”
Good:
Bad: Defensive Breakdowns
Each of the first three Edmonton goals were scored by guys that were open in front of the goal. On the first two,
Colorado
Colorado firefighters in grade mountain homes on wildfire survivability during training exercise
As wildfire concerns grow across Colorado’s mountains, firefighters in Summit County spent part of the week walking through a neighborhood and evaluating which homes they would be able to defend if a wildfire raced toward them.
Crews from Summit Fire & EMS and Red, White & Blue Fire Protection District worked together on a training exercise in Silverthorne, practicing everything from calling in additional resources to assessing homes for wildfire risk. The exercise centered around a reality firefighters face during major wildfires: they cannot save every structure.
“All of these homes potentially could be threatened,” said Steve Lipsher, community resource officer with Summit Fire & EMS. “So we want to spend our resources and our time and our energy in a place where we can actually make a difference.”
As firefighters moved from property to property, they completed what is known as structure triage, evaluating how defensible each home would be during a wildfire. The assessments look at factors such as defensible space, vegetation near structures, access to water, and other hazards that could make a home more difficult to protect.
“This is what we found at this home, this is how defensible it is from a fire, this is how we may be able to improve it,” Lipsher said. “Or in the worst-case scenario, this is a home that would take far too much effort and we cannot improve it in time.”
Some issues are simple to fix. During one assessment, Lipsher pointed out vegetation concerns near a home and noted that “this would be a real easy fix to dramatically improve the likelihood” of the home surviving a wildfire.
The training comes as Summit County enters the summer fire season under unusually dry conditions.
“Our soil moisture is nothing right now,” Lipsher said. “You can feel it.”
For homeowners Harold and Sherry Pearce, the wildfire threat was one of the realities they understood when purchasing a mountain home.
“The insurance rates reflect what we’ve realized is a threat commonly,” Harold Pearce said.
One challenge firefighters frequently encounter is convincing homeowners to make mitigation improvements that may change the look of their property.
“Sometimes it’s a case, ‘I bought a mountain home that I want to be a mountain home. I want it to be in the woods,’” Lipsher said. “Nobody moved to Colorado to live on a scalped lot — but there are definitely some things that we can do to make a home more likely to survive a wildfire.”
That challenge can be even greater with second homes, where owners may not be present year-round to monitor conditions or complete mitigation work.
Officials said the goal of exercises like this is not only to train firefighters, but also to help homeowners understand how small changes can dramatically improve a home’s chances during a wildfire. Summit County recently moved into a high fire danger classification, a reminder that despite recent rain, much of the moisture gained this spring has already dried out.
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