Avalanche notebook: Jost promoted in hopes of finding spark

The Colorado Avalanche returned home from their two-game road trip and had a short practice Wednesday morning as they prepare to take on the St. Louis Blues in their third home game of the season tomorrow night.

One of the notable changes to the lineup was Sven Andrighetto had been replaced by Tyson Jost on the team’s theoretical top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. While the Avalanche have improved offensively in the early going versus their league-worst effort from last season, the team is still consistently struggling to generate opportunities at even strength.

MacKinnon, in particular, has been slow to start this season as he’s been significantly more passive with the puck after a season in which he poured a team-high 251 shots on goal, an average of just over three shots on goal per game. So far through seven games, MacKinnon has managed just 11 shots on goal, an average of 1.5.

“I want to shoot more,” MacKinnon admitted. “I think I haven’t been getting it in the neutral zone as much and it’s affecting my shots per game but yeah I think it’s always good to use your teammates but I definitely feel like I need to get more aggressive.”

While MacKinnon’s numbers aren’t ghastly, only two of his five points have been recorded at even strength and one of those came on an empty net. That lack of production at even strength is one of the driving forces between the line shakeup today.

“It’s been tough,” MacKinnon said. “The lines haven’t been creating tons of chances and we haven’t been getting many pucks from up to. It’s kind of like a special teams game now. There’s not really any flow five-on-five. I don’t know what the numbers are like for other teams but I feel like for us we’re either getting power plays or on the kill. It’s more that so maybe five-on-five production is going down. Hopefully, we can fix that.”

The addition of Jost changes the complexion of that line as he brings a more defensively focused mindset than Andrighetto, who is still finding a comfort level in his own zone at the NHL level.

“I think [Jost] more of a grinder,” MacKinnon said of his new left wing.” He likes to win puck battles and get in the dirty areas but he’s got a ton of skill and has great vision. When we mixed things up [against Nashville] late in the third, he found me nice in the slot there. I think it was my first slot shot this season. He’s great. He’s a hungry guy, only 19, but he went tenth overall for a reason. He’s very skilled.”

For the player moving up in the lineup, he’s focusing on how he can help what is expected to be the team’s top scoring line find their rhythm and begin producing at a more acceptable rate.

“I think speed,” Jost said of what he brings to the table. “It’s already a really fast line. Another thing I can bring is my hockey sense. Obviously, those are two pretty spectacular players. MacKinnon is a world-class player and Mikko is right up there with him. I think my hockey sense, getting those guys the puck, get them in areas where they can make things happen. I think I can bring my down low play to a little bit so I can grind and create something nice for them for sure.”

The Avalanche unleash their new top trio on the Blues tomorrow night at Pepsi Center. Jonathan Bernier will get his third start of the season and Patrik Nemeth will return to the lineup after missing one game with a shoulder injury. Should the practice lines hold firm, the Avalanche lineup will be:

Jost – MacKinnon – Rantanen

Andrighetto – Duchene – Yakupov

Kerfoot – Compher – Landeskog

Wilson – Soderberg- Nieto/Comeau (scratch to be determined)

Zadorov – Johnson

Nemeth – Barrie

Bigras – Barberio

Bernier