It’s time to get tougher for the Avs, or they’ll be flying home Tuesday on Nathan MacKinnon’s 25th birthday.
The Avalanche delivered a club-record 72 hits in last week’s Game 3 against the Dallas Stars — the only game Colorado has won in the series. In Sunday’s Game 4, a 5-4 loss that put the Avs on the verge of elimination, they were credited with just 36 hits — exactly half as the previous game.
A similar decline in blocked shots took place in those two games in Edmonton. Colorado blocked just nine shots Sunday, compared to 22 for the Stars, after the Avs held a 25-19 edge in Game 3.