Rapids Outplay San Jose, Can't Score

So the Rapids had a chance to finally get a win on Saturday night, but their inability to score once again cost them points.

Lets get this out of the way first.  Yes, both of Bombito's yellow cards were soft and I don't think most refs would have given two cards to the same player of those fouls.  No they weren't technically wrong.  Also no, the red card didn't cost us the game.  You know how I know that?  Because even being down a man for 39+ minutes we didn't give up a shot on goal to San Jose, and while down a man we got a PK call that we didn't convert.  That's about as good of a job as you can do at winning the game without actually winning the game.  Bombito being on the field wouldn't change that.

The Rapids have had 3 penalty kicks this season, and 2 of them have been saved Rubio vs. Vancouver and Ronan on Saturday).  Both the saved kicks were somewhat similar, weaker kicks to the keepers left but not far to the left.  Ronan's made PK against Philly we better hit to the keeper's right.  For a team that's only scored 14 goals all season you can't throw away goals and points by not having a confident penalty taker.

Outside of the PK the Rapids got 4 shots on goal, for a total of 0.9 xG.  San Jose had 0 shots on goal but still managed a 0.8 xG.  Cole Bassett did the heavy lifting this week, being the only player (other than Ronan's PK) to put up an xG of 0.1 or better.  Million-dollar Cabral had a 0.0 xG.  What, exactly, is he adding to this team?  The rest of the game was exactly what you would expect from a Rapids game this year.

We're now at the midpoint of the season and we're on track for 26 points and 28 goals.  Only twice has Colorado ever finished under 30 points, in 1996 (where draws weren't possible and the Shootout made everything W/L) they finished with 29 points in 32 games and in 2001 they finished with 23 points.  2001 was shortened by the 9/11 attacks and Colorado only played 26 games that year.  In both cases their PPG would have carried them to 30 points or more in a 34 game year, like 2023 is.  This is the worst first-half the Rapids have ever had (in 2015 we wouldn't get our third win until game 18, but we had 9 draws in the first half putting us at 15 points).  The generous Bodmer Line is now at 1.65 PPG, more realistically its at 1.8 or better.  Only twice (2016 & 2021) have we played a full season above 1.65 PPG, never above 1.8.

If the Front Office wanted to do any sort of damage control this would be the week to do it.  The team is at the halfway point, they have a full week off for the first time in 6 weeks, and any negative news is going to get buried by the Nuggets NBA Finals games.  But we all know that's not the MO of the the club, despite their calls for transparency and accountability in the infamous "Rapids Way" editorial.

Man of the Match: Andres Maxsø. No shots on goal?  Had to be a defender and the Dane had a good game.