Welcome to the playoffs, where everybody misses the net and interference is allowed.

Aves win over the LA Kings 2 to 1 in Game 1 of the series.

Look, in the playoffs, a win is a win is a win.

I really don't care how you get there as long as you can do it consistently.

And while I don't think this was the Ave's best game, I do think they can consistently beat the Kings.

I do think there was some matinee wonkiness in this game because for some reason the

NHL has decided the abs have to play games in the afternoon, even in the playoffs.

And I do think there are a significant number of things that the abs can do better than

they did in this game.

But they were still the better team.

The underlying metrics for a majority of this game,

I think, is actually the type of game LA is trying to play. And while it's a little disappointing,

the Aves didn't come out and dominate this team. It is encouraging that even when L.A. gets to

play the way they want to, the Aves can still win. The first period was very low event. Aves out shoot LA 9 to 5 in the period,

but there were three high danger chances total combined between both teams. Just not a lot of

dangerous stuff going on there. I will say the Aves power play did go O for 4 tonight, which is not

good, but that is a little bit deceiving. Their first power play was certainly bad. Their second power play was actually quite good. Their third power play was cut short because the abs took a penalty, which is bad, but that's an individual player making a dumb decision instead of the power play offense being bad. And then the fourth power play was at the end of the game where LA had an empty net, and it was just the abs closing out the game instead instead of trying to actually score on a power play. All is to say, yes, you would love the

abs to score on special teams, but it's not actually as bad as 0 for 4. With no goals in the

first period, the second period did open up a good bit. It was the highest event period of the

game by a lot, including the abs scoring first early on, but unfortunately, this contact was deemed to be

goalie interference.

Sure looks like Dowdy pushes him into me, but it is what it is.

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