Toews and Makar. Colorado’s two most important players are blue-line partners Devon Toews and Cale Makar because they are the skaters who play the most. Makar logged a game-high 28:50 in Game 1 and Toews was second at 25:35. The Avs duo got beat on the Lightning’s second goal but were otherwise fantastic. However, they only produced one shot between them and all seven of Makar’s attempts were blocked or off-target.
“They’re very good at blocking shots,” Makar said of Tampa’s defenders. “I still felt like we were creating … even when they’re blocking shots our forwards are doing a good job retrieving those.