The Good, Bad and Ugly roller coaster ride with the Avalanche continues

 

The Colorado Avalanche continue to provide thrills, chills, and terror this past week, in a strange imitation of some crazy amusement park roller coaster ride.

THE GOOD

1. The Colorado Avalanche went on the road and managed to go 2-2, ending their six-game losing streak. They also came back from a gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, potentially soul-crushing defeat to eke out a win in the second game of a back-to-back weekend.

2. Meet mighty Matt Duchene, road warrior extraordinaire! The Alternate Captain shines on the road, having earned 13 points in the 12 road games, with 10 goals and three assists. At home? He’s earned five assists and no goals. He has combined for 18 total points this season. He is also a +2 on the road and a -7 at home. Maybe he should spend the night at a hotel before home games because the Avalanche could use the improved scoring.

3. The other alternate Alternate Captain, Nathan MacKinnon, is no slouch on the road either, tallying 14 points on five goals and nine assists. At home, MacKinnon has notched three goals and three assists and leads the team with 20 points. Maybe he should also stay at a hotel before home games. Maybe a Holiday Inn Express?

4. Colorado did something amazing this past week, they scored on the power play – not once, not twice, but FOUR times on 13 chances. That’s a mighty impressive 30.8% of the time. For the season, the Avalanche power play unit ranks 15th with a respectable 17.7%. Stick taps to the team for the improvement.

5. The Avalanche also made substantial upgrades in the faceoff circle this season. Currently, they rank SECOND in the league, winning 53% of their face-offs.

6. Speaking of face-offs, MacKinnon averages 18.9 of those per game, winning 52.3% of them so far, having handled 509 contests. Duchene has a higher winning percent of 61.8% but has only handled 217 face-offs. John Mitchell is also noteworthy as he won 56.1% of his 214. Carl Soderberg is also winning his 52.1% of his 307 face-off battles. Now, if they can only translate those wins into game wins.

6. MacKinnon has five points in the last four games, 3 goals and 2 assists and leads the team with 20 points. Duchene also scored 3 goals and 1 assist, sitting second with 18 points.

7. Captain Gabriel Landeskog finally returned to the ice. Unfortunately, it was for the disaster against the Montreal Canadiens (hereafter referred to as “the game that never happened”). Defenseman Fedor Tyutin – aka – Rootin’ Tootin’ – also returned from injury. He was lucky enough to participate in the much-needed win against the Boston Bruins. Sources on scene at the Bruins game report enjoying every minute of being grossly outnumbered as Avalanche fans at the Garden.

8. One of the best – and worst – moments of the week was watching MacKinnon get a stick to the face, and then deke the offender to score the second goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The stick was ugly, as was the blood, but the goal was a thing of beauty. Stick tap!

9. Future Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla played game 1,501 against the Maple Leafs. He reached the milestone of being only the 16th player to appear in 1,500 games in the game that never happened in Montreal. Congratulations!

10. Jarome Iginla defending his teammate after the low hit by Montreal’s Alexei Emelin was the only justice the Avalanche saw that night.

11. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov deserves a few dozen steaks and a case of vodka for his outstanding 51-save night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He kept the team in the game during a dismal first period, stopping 21 shots on goal, until the rest of the team found their rhythm in the second period.

12. The Avalanche had the exact same record – 11-15-1 – last year after 27 games, with the same 23 points. The good – they were still in contention for the postseason until the final few games.

13. Interesting tidbit – in the Montreal game that never happened – both Carl Soderberg and Mikhail Grigorenko finished the contest with a plus/minus of zero. Normally, this would not be a big deal, except in a 10-1 blowout, they are the only team members to avoid having a negative plus/minus.

14. Perhaps the silver lining to Erik Johnson’s injury is Tyson Barrie kicking his defensive game up a notch.

THE BAD

1. The Colorado Avalanche have the least number of shots on goal in the entire NHL and rank second to last in actual scoring. Stop me if you have heard this before, but MAYBE if they shoot the puck more, they might actually improve their scoring.

2. Emelin’s cheap hit on Joe Colborne should have gotten a suspension. There were less than five minutes to go in a 10-1 blowout. The hit was unnecessary. Going low to take out his knees, aiming to injure, can only be described as cheap.

Fighting in hockey used to be allowed to prevent the cheap shot and hopefully serve as a deterrent for those kinds of players. Offsetting game misconducts when a player attempts to defend his teammate doesn’t achieve the same objective.

3. Neither the officiating crew nor the NHL office appears to have received their gift baskets yet. Does it seem odd to anyone else that opposing players are allowed to cartwheel Avalanche players like Duchene and Colborne yet if Landeskog so much as defends his space, he’s getting a call from the NHL? How many gift baskets will it take to reach parity in officiating?

4. On a related note, Montreal Canadiens’ goaltender Carey Price pummeled a guy with his blocker without being ejected from the game, as stipulated in Rule 51.3 for such an infraction. All Price received was a proverbial slap on the wrist four-minute roughing call. During the Avalanche game, Price also joined in on Iginla’s retaliatory scrum in front of his net without a call. Way to protect your players, NHL. Big money says if an Avalanche goaltender tried that, they would be gone for a week.

THE UGLY

1. The Montreal game. The embarrassing blowout set new levels of embarrassment for the team and the fans. Anyone can have a disaster of night, even the Avalanche, and it’s best for everyone to pretend the game was just a mirage. However, let’s never see that again. ‘Nuff said.

2. Defenseman Nikita Zadorov offered some really good quality ugly when he defended teammate Andreas Martinsen, who was the recipient of a cheap hit from Toronto’s Matt Martin. Zadorov, in only his second NHL fight, took on the 210 pound, 27-year-old NHL veteran with 75 fights under his belt. Apparently, Zadorov was paying attention to Iginla’s response to Emelin’s cheap hit on Colborne.

GOOD, BAD AND UGLY

Iginla said he would be willing to waive his NTC to play for a Stanley Cup contender. Of course, the Avalanche were busy getting blown out in the game that never happened at the time, so no one can blame him. Someone with his history in hockey should have the privilege of finishing his career playing for the Stanley Cup.

Unfortunately for the Avalanche, even if they manage to rebound and make the postseason, they currently appear to lack the depth to make the finals.

Iginla’s earned the right to be moved if that’s what he wants and a reasonable offer is made. Trading him for a young prospect could also help the Avalanche down the road. However, after his spirited response against Emelin’s cheap shot, one can’t help but wonder if the team still doesn’t have something to learn from the veteran.

QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK

1. There has got to be a reason but it certainly isn’t clear from this side of the glass. Why in the world would newly acquired defenseman Cody Goloubef average more ice time per game than Nikita Zadorov? Over a minute and a half more per game – why? Wouldn’t it make more sense to give Zadorov – the potential future of the defense – more ice time and live with the growing pains? Goloubef is serviceable and with Erik Johnson out, his addition seems necessary. But Zadorov has a much better upside to offset the mistakes.

2. What’s the deal with Eric Gelinas? Does he have a future with the team? Coming off such a horrific elbow injury after being acquired by the Avalanche, he gets used intermittently with few minutes. More ice time may help improve his game, or re-develop his self-confidence or something. But maybe it’s time to consider options.

RAMPAGE ROULETTE – the wheel continues to spin, albeit more slowly

The Avalanche just announced they will be calling up Spencer Martin from the San Antonio Rampage as Varlamov suffered a groin injury. It appears his impressive effort against Toronto  had some unintended side effects. A 51-save night can do that.

WHAT TO WATCH

1. The Avalanche will have three games this week, two at home with the first one Wednesday night when they host the visiting Philadephia Flyers followed two nights later by the Florida Panthers, and the third on the road against the Winnipeg Jets.

2. Will Colorado and Jarome Iginla begin to entertain offers for a trade?

3. Will Semyon Varlamov have a quick recovery or does this signal a return of the nagging groin injury from the past couple of years?

4. Will the Rampage Roulette wheel spin again if Joe Colborne is actually going to miss games with his lower-body injury?