This sport is weird.

iT wAs ThE eLeVaTiOn!

They look so much different tonight. I am wondering if the elevation had that much of an impact. They don’t look as old and slow tonight. Still think the Avs win this series, but if it goes to a seventh game I like Tampa’s chances.

Heh... there was so much snark on reddit about the elevation.... of course Avalanche fans calling for it to be an excuse and TB fans thinking that had to be it. I've already seen some snarky comments that TB fans were right all along!


But yeah, they looked freakin' dead in game 2... elevation is just as good of an explanation as any, because they were flat out bad.

TB definitely defending better tonight. COL can't get a lot going in the offensive zone.

Elevation may have been the cause and it might not have. It’s just amazing how badly they were dominated in Game 2 in every phase and how dominant they are tonight Save two PP goals, the Avs have been dominated all night. It could also be the home crowd. What I do know is that it’s not just Vasilevskiy (who is better tonight by a mile).

It's just an odd excuse. Why is it suddenly the problem? The Blues didn't have trouble in Denver after all, and the Bolts were far better in game 1 than game 2, which is the opposite of what you'd expect.

As someone who lives here, I've always thought it was odd how much sports teams talk about it. 5280 isn't that big of a deal. Take a hike above 10k, and THEN we can talk.

My guess is the Florida ice. Ice rarely naturally exists in FL. Probably mushy ice slowing down COL.

I don’t disagree about the elevation as a weak excuse, but it’s more me grasping at something to explain the VASTLY different performance between game 2 and this one. I will say though that elevation is a thing until you acclimate. When I got stationed at Ft Carson after 5 years at Ft Hood, I struggled to run at first, and I was in great shape. Once I got used to it though, it was not an issue. I do know Ft Carson still has a 30 day acclimation policy for people who get stationed there. Colorado Springs is only 6,000 is Ft, so not much higher than Denver.

Part of it is probably just TB seeming desperate. Part of it is probably Vasy playing well and Kuemper play poorly. Part of it is that the loss of Burakovsky and Kadri means that our 4th line is pretty useless.

That could be. At least it’s a series again.

Yeah, and people only talk about it when the local sports teams win... it's not like the Avalanche were awful for the past few seasons when they were losing at home in the playoffs (outside of the bubble).

And Cooper said TB had been in Denver for a week.

TB is just far more in sync tonight... their offense looks like the difference between 'just go out there and score' and actually executing a plan. And they're actually playing the full length of the ice instead of letting the Avalanche skate from their defensive zone through the neutral zone with very little resistance.

The crazy thing is the fancy stats suggest this was a pretty close game.

https://www.naturalstattrick.com/gam...3&view=limited

"First team in 100+ years to win a game after losing the previous game by 7"
LMAO

Team loss. Offense missed some great chances and was sloppy all-around, defense was bad, goaltending was worse.

Only positive from this one is possibly clinching the Cup on home ice.