The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from the past week with the Colorado Avalanche

THE GOOD

1. For those who have been living in some secluded spot, far from any hockey news, Colorado Avalanche forward Jarome Iginla finally notched his 600th career goal Monday night, at home, against the Los Angeles Kings. He now officially becomes the 19th member of the 600 goal club. Congratulations!!!

2. Offensive defenseman Tyson Barrie garnered four points against the Kings, two goals and two assists. Good to see Barrie awake from his scoring slumber.

3. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov returned to form against the Kings after a rough outing against the Calgary Flames. He allowed only one goal on a Kings power play in 31 shots.

4. Over the last three games, the Colorado Avalanche scored on four out of 10 power play opportunities. The team capitalized on three out of five chances last night.

5. Forward Matt Duchene quietly continues to acquire points. In the last week, he scored one goal and earned three assists. For the season, he and fellow forward Nathan MacKinnon lead the team with 33 points each.

6. Colorado fourth line members all carry double digit points, unusual this early in the season. Cody McLeod and Jack Skille both have 10 points each. Depending on the lineup, either John Mitchell (12 points) or Mikhail Grigorenko (11 points) plays center. Quality playoff teams need depth and a fourth line with good point totals indicates the Avalanche are developing much needed depth.

THE BAD

1. Defenseman Erik Johnson suffered a lower body injury midway through the second period in the game against the Kings and did not return to the ice. The Avalanche need Erik Johnson – a healthy Erik Johnson – in order to make a good bid at the postseason. The team does not have another defender who plays his style of game and pairs as well with fellow defenseman Francois Beauchemin. If Johnson misses anything more than a couple of games, the injury will be bad not just for him, but bad for the team’s playoff aspirations.

2. Colorado laid an egg in the Calgary Flames game. From Varlamov’s performance in net to the number of penalties to the porous defense of the MacKinnon, Iginla, Tanguay line, the whole team played on it’s heels after the first period. The term ‘bad’ doesn’t seem strong enough. In the spirit of the New Year, let’s chalk it up to “one of those” games with hope for never seeing a repeat performance this season.

THE UGLY

1. The Avalanche have committed 18 penalties resulting in power play opportunities for their opponents in the last three games while only earning 10 power play chances for themselves. It might hurt less if more of the Avalanche penalties were for things other than mental errors. For example; a too many men on the ice call in overtime, leading to a Chicago Blackhawks game-winning goal, eight minutes on the penalty kill in the third period of the Calgary Flames game, and a delay of game call on an unnecessary puck handling error which led to a power play goal for the Kings. Those type of errors can only be described as ugly.

2. John Mitchell face down on the ice after being hit in the head by a puck Monday night proved scary as well as ugly. Fortunately, in tough hockey style, Mitchell returned to the ice after a quick inspection on the bench.

THOUGHTS TO PONDER

Do the Colorado Avalanche currently have a player who can elevate the level of play simply by being on the ice?

When Peyton Manning stepped onto the Mile High field Sunday afternoon, the atmosphere changed and the Denver Broncos improved their play across the board. Joe Sakic, even when not personally having his best game, could bring that something extra to a game that would ignite the team. Former Avalanche player Chris Drury provided a similar impact, and he went on to a successful career leading other teams after he left Colorado.

Whether the Avalanche have that player (or group of players) who can ignite the team and carry them to the playoffs should become apparent over the next few weeks. The team needs to win now in order to become postseason contenders. They played a good, solid game against the Pacific Division leading Kings. Can they build on that success? And, who will rise to the challenge to be the spark plug for the team?

WHAT TO WATCH

1. Two Avalanche draft prospects faced off Tuesday in the World Junior Hockey Championship finals. Forward Mikko Rantanen, as the team captain, led the Finland squad to an overtime win against Russia and fellow Colorado draft pick defenseman Sergei Boikov. Rantanen scored a go ahead goal with only two minutes left in the third period.  Try to find a replay of the game as the third period is definitely worth watching.

2. The Colorado Avalanche are only four points behind the last Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Let’s see if they can move up the rankings as they face three Central Division rivals ahead of them in the standings this week.