The high-octane Colorado Avalanche have stalled in recent games. And the result was no different in Sunday’s loss to the Predators.
Colorado had Saturday off while the Predators lost a heartbreaker to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Nevertheless, the Predators still outshot the Avalanche 35-21 and built a 5-0 lead before Colorado got its act together.
Head coach Jared Bednar wasn’t pleased. Via Russell Vannozzi of NHL.com, Bednar said:
“We should have been the team with more energy … with (Nashville) playing the back-to-back on the road and us here waiting for them. It looked like it was the exact opposite. Some of the things we talked about was using our skating to check and to attack, and we looked like we were the more sluggish group. The second thing we talked about was making sure we stayed out of the penalty box, and that was the exact opposite too.”
There are two key admissions here. The first was the obvious. Before Colorado’s blowout loss against the Predators, they had a break between Sunday and their previous matchup — a 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. That was more than enough time to rest up and take advantage of the situation. Especially against a team on a back-to-back and letting a winnable game slip away.
Colorado’s Penalty-Kill Unit Further Destroyed Their Chances
The Avalanche found themselves on the penalty kill seven times. Four of those opportunities to ward off Nashville’s power play resulted in goals. The sluggish penalty kill was Bednar’s second admission, and it was an unpleasant surprise.
Heading into Sunday’s matchup, the Avalanche’s penalty-kill unit warded off 82.8 percent of opposing power-play opportunities, one of the better overall numbers in the league. They also went on the penalty kill just 29 times in 11 games, or 2.63 times per game.
That was a remarkable number before Sunday’s performance brought them back to reality. Still, across an 84-game stretch, even the best units are due for bad games. If that was the case for Colorado’s PK unit, it should be fine moving forward. One bad game shouldn’t rule out an otherwise dominating season-long performance.
Colorado Must Get Back On Track In All Phases Of The Game
Few started hotter than the Avalanche, who won three of their first four games and scored a ridiculous 23 goals. Since their first four games of the year, Colorado has scored just 26 times and is 3-4-1 in that stretch. 26 goals in eight games isn’t a bad number. But it is lower than Colorado’s standard. In six of their last eight games, the Avalanche have scored three goals or fewer.
If there is more of a potential downside, it is that the Colorado Avalanche’s inconsistent offense seems to be turning into an ongoing trend. Even if they have more than enough talent to turn things around before they get out of hand.
They had a golden opportunity to get back on track on Sunday, and it didn’t happen. So, Bednar’s comments and concerns are warranted.
Colorado will get its next opportunity on Oct. 28 when the New Jersey Devils come to town. New Jersey was one of those teams Colorado had a tough time scoring against in their 4-3 loss on Oct. 20.
Colorado Avalanche Coach Calls Out Two Failures After Predators Loss