‘We were really bad tonight’: Game 2 had a familiar feeling

After the Colorado Avalanche squeaked out a 3-2 overtime win in Game 1, I wrote the following:

“If every game this round looks like last night at 5-on-5 and the Avs can stay out of the penalty box to keep the dangerous St. Louis special teams at bay, the Blues have no shot to win this series.”

Here is what Game 1 looked like at 5-on-5

And here is what Game 2 looked like at 5-on-5

My statement has not been invalidated. Game 2 did not look anything like Game 1. In Game 1, Colorado controlled the entire game from the second period onward, as exemplified by their thirteen to zero shot advantage in eight minutes of overtime. In Game 2, they didn’t get their thirteenth shot on goal until around eight…