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

The Colorado Avalanche weathered a disheartening loss, a bounce back win, off ice controversy, and an All Star break which showcased both the best and the worst of the current NHL in the past week.

THE GOOD

1. After a lackluster loss to the San Jose Sharks, the Colorado Avalanche pressed into a bounce back game against the Los Angeles Kings battling back from a two goal deficit for the victory. They showed resilience and managed to regain the first Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. Within the Central Division, only the Chicago Blackhawks own a better record in the last ten games as Colorado has gone 5-1 in their last six games. While only one point ahead of the Nashville Predators and two points ahead of the Minnesota Wild, Colorado now sits seven points behind the third seed, the St. Louis Blues in the Central. Do the remaining thirty games offer enough opportunity for them to climb in the rankings?

2. Someone must have read last week’s TGBU as forward Nathan MacKinnon scored a goal in each of his last two games – the sole score against the Sharks and the winning goal over the Los Angeles Kings. MacKinnon finding his scoring groove should help the club earn points and secure a postseason berth. He ranks second on the team with 41 points, one point behind Matt Duchene.

3. Big MacK isn’t the only one to improve his scoring. Team captain Gabriel Landeskog notched two goals against the Kings, including the game tying tally. He now ranks fourth on the team with 13 goals and 22 assists.

4. Center Carl Soderberg leads the Avalanche in assists with 26 and ranks third overall on the team for points. He’s tied for 22nd among all NHL players for assists.

5. Defenseman Tyson Barrie trails Soderberg with 25 assists and ranks fifth on the club with a total of 33 points. Barrie is tied for 24th in assists among all NHL players. Among NHL defenseman, he ranks fifth in assists, seventh in points, and 12th in goals.

6. Over the past month, Semyon Varlamov was named one of the all stars of the game five times. Six other Colorado players were named more than once, and five others were named one time. The coaching staff should be pleased as good clubs need more than just a couple of stars; they need a concerted team effort to raise their level of play in order to make the postseason. The Avalanche look to be doing just that.

7. Calvin Pickard earned an Iron Man nod for playing while he had the flu. A secondary award goes to Roman Will who made his first NHL appearance in relief of Pickard in the loss to the Sharks. For a moment there, it looked like maybe coach Patrick Roy could have ended up in net.

8. All Star forward Matt Duchene currently ranks seventh in the league with 23 goals, tied with Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Duchene showcased why he deserved to be an All Star as he led the charge for the first goal in the Central Division vs. Pacific Division in the first round All Star game. But he truly shined in the Breakaway Challenge, displaying his cowboy skills. In case you missed it, check out the link below.

9. Kudos to the NHL All Star players and fans for exhibiting all that makes the NHL such a unique and treasured sport by turning the John Scott saga into the feel good story of the weekend. The players showed class by embracing John Scott and celebrating his “every man” story. The fans transformed what could have been one of the worst bullying stories of the season into one of celebrating the heart and work ethic of every NHL hockey player. Scott brought character to the star-studded spectacle and elevated the weekend into a celebration of hockey as a whole, not just a showcase for a few select players. And hockey benefited because this was the most inspiring All Star event in years.

10. From the reports to date, it looks like Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov may not be the cad some people thought. While he may be guilty of a young man’s questionable judgment, the civil case seems to raise more questions about how this was allowed to go to trial than anything else. Hopefully Varlamov can channel his frustration into stopping shots and shutting out future opponents.

11. Chicago Blackhawk Patrick Kane revealed a sense of humor at the All Star game when he staged a ‘throw down’ with John Scott. Totally classy. It was also encouraging to hear how many of the players encouraged Scott to attend the game and enjoy the experience. So hats off to the players and the fans for valuing the unique nature of the hockey experience and treating it with respect.

THE BAD

1. The NHL management looked not only bad, but petty, when they tried to coerce John Scott into sitting out the All Star game despite being voted in by the fans. The NHL came up with the fan vote brainchild. They had an opportunity to honor the fans – and John Scott – but instead shot themselves in the foot. Is it any wonder hockey struggles to gain traction enlarging their fan base with this kind of thinking from management?

2. Certain media outlets – and they know who they are – used Semyon Varlamov’s civil case as an opportunity to seize upon a controversial quote and use it as click bait to drive traffic to an opinion piece disguised as a news story. Either cover the whole story, both sides, or leave it alone.

3. What genius designed the Avalanche schedule this year? Two sets of back to back games in a week? One has to wonder who Colorado irritated in the NHL front office.

THE UGLY

1. The loss to San Jose was ugly. The Avalanche played poorly, looking slow and half asleep making one wonder if more of the team was battling the flu than originally reported. However, even though they had a bad game, they still scored late in the third, showing they hadn’t completely given up. Also, the Sharks own the best record in hockey over the last ten games, going 8-0-2.

2. The NHL calling up John Scott and trying to talk him out of going to the All Star game, going so far as to ask him whether his kids would be proud of him for attending, showed a total lack of class. Also, somehow Scott was traded from his NHL team in Phoenix and demoted to the Montreal Canadien’s AHL team in Newfoundland when he refused to back down, all less than a month from when his wife was due to deliver twins. It looked like the NHL was trying to disqualify him from the All Star game and everyone involved in that effort should be ashamed of themselves. Ugly doesn’t begin to describe it.

3. The civil suit against Varlamov currently looks like one disgruntled ex-girlfriend wanted revenge and was able to disrupt not only his career, but the entire team and even former team-mates. The Avalanche can only hope Varlamov will be able to play tonight as the court case continues to drag on. At what point do the scales of justice prevent the system from being abused to further someone’s vitriol?

WHAT TO WATCH

1. Colorado launches out of the All Star break into three Central Division games this week. Hopefully they come out of the break well rested and with fresh legs as they are going to need them to create some distance between themselves and the other teams nipping at their heels for a Wild Card slot.

2. If Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow, how will that impact the Avalanche over the next six weeks? Might it portend six winning weeks for Colorado?