NEW YORK – I’ll be honest, I’m a bit worried about the way the Avalanche are looking right now. They’re giving up too many shots again, are getting outplayed for good-sized stretches of games again and not looking deep enough up front. But their record is 3-1-2.
And that, for me, is all that matters right now.
Getting points any way you possibly can is all that matters to me, early in a season. It’s all about just getting to that second half of the season, to that final third of the season, with enough points in the bank not to have to sweat out every single game in the end. The Avs have played six games so far and gotten at least a point in five of them.
Good enough for me.
Now, like I just said, things could be better. Jared Bednar seemed pretty happy with his team’s play Tuesday night here at Madison Square Garden, even going as far as to say he thought it played a pretty good first period against the New York Rangers.
First shift, yeah. The rest of the period? Uh, no, not good, sorry coach. Colorado was outshot 19-7 and if not for Semyon Varlamov, it should have been a 3-0 game in the first 10 minutes. The Avs got better as the game went along, but once again they started an overtime looking like elephants on ice skates. Nathan MacKinnon takes a penalty on the first shift, the Avs have to bail water to kill the PP off and go into the shootout where MacKinnon tried to get too fancy on one attempt and Gabe Landeskog was too slow in getting his moves together against aging-but-still-effective Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
That’s three of the last four games now that the Avs have been outplayed and outshot for large stretches of games, yet the only game they’ve truly lost was in Columbus. When this team starts to get its defensive game together more – and Bednar said it will be a prime focus of his moving forward – things will start to come easier again.
I thought Ian Cole said it well after the game: “The more we can roll six guys, the more we can save guys like Tyson Barrie for the power play, and Sam Girard for the power play. We’re not there yet, but we’re certainly working and we’re certainly growing. You’re never satisfied when you lose, but I think there’s some good things we can take out of this. We came back and never stopped battling.”
Probably the one thing that worries me most about this team isn’t the defense, though. It’s the lack of a line, beyond the dynamic top trio of MacKinnon, Landeskog and Rantanen, that has yet to develop a real identity. Sure, all three lines have had some good moments, but you worry about the sustainability still of that second line, of Tyson Jost, Alexander Kerfoot and Colin Wilson. You worry if Carl Soderberg can possibly come close to another 40-point season. You worry about Matt Nieto going pointless through the first six games, and whether Vladislav Kamenev can really be counted on for anything.
But, plenty of time to sort that out. Plenty of time, too, to maybe make a deal for a forward (Nylander from Toronto, anyone?).
Flaws remain with this team, as we’ve seen. Giving up 43 shots to a 1-4-0 Rangers team is not a good game, no matter how you want to look at it. Yes, I know a lot of them came on the power play, but those penalties were the product of more aggressive Rangers play than anything.
Yet, all I see in the standings right now is a team at 3-1-2, in the playoffs if the season ended today.
For now, that works.
0 Comments (9 conversations)
ljp78
I agree, just no time to freak out. This season’s story is just beginning to be written. And what’s the saying, you don’t make the playoffs early in the season, but you can make yourself miss? Something like that.
I’d rather not trade for Nylander. I’d save the 7-8M he wants for Rantanen. Jacob Trouba, on the other hand….
pat2717
We continue to have issues getting the puck down the ice with any control. It did get better as the game progressed but damn it doesn’t allow our get any offensive flow going. The penalties are another direct result of bad passing in our D zone and the neutral zone. On the plus side, it’s the first game where I thought Kamanev looked like he could possibly be an NHL player. Nieto drops down and Kamanev goes up is on the horizon. I don’t really understand giving Kam 6-8 minutes a night. He should be in Loveland or bumped up. I guess the one point is better than nothing but the rangers are very beatable. Thank God Varly is playing so well.
Cerveau
Question is: are we better than last year this time?
I’d say yes as far as skillset, except I would have preferred to keep Comeau for the Soda-Nieto-Comeau line.
Too bad Compher is out.
Next question: is this yet another transition year while we wait for the pipeline to step in with Makar and others?
If so what happens if we eventually trade Barrie and get a better forward?
Having those questions addressed reframes how we feel about our record so far this year.
I personally feel that every year is a “transition” year.
And for me the question is whether our guys are living up to their potential.
I feel we currently have enough skill to make the playoffs again but at this point it’s more about whether the coaching staff can control the headset of the team.
We should have beaten both Calgary and the Rangers but we squandered those games because of lack of maturity.
Two teams with less skill than us out played us because they played with more maturity.
And I feel the coaching staff needs more maturity too, because the choice of players that were sent out during over time with Calgary was not reflective of our philosophy of using our speed to keep the other teams on the defensive, although maybe our offense is not able to get going because the defense is not getting the puck up forward the way it should… ?
Or is it a chicken vs the egg deal, i.e. do we need to get our offense to learn how to play defense better to help the defense do it’s job better?
These are all questions I’m interested in hearing our BSN experts address.
ColoradoFanOxford
Cervea, your description of things is a really good read. I wondered when they let Comeau go if it would turn out to be a significant (can’t say “big” about a third line player) mistake and one that was relatively cheap to
avoid. The question around that was whether or not the Avs thought they could actually win a Stanley Cup this year. From a strictly roster view, no. But we all know hot goaltending, a big scorer and one or two surprises on the other lines and you are lifting Lord Stanley’s Cup. The key is to get to the playoffs and not face a 1-2-3 set of teams to make the finals. That expends too much energy (the 90 Oilers did it but it was tense the whole way). This team simply has to be better in enough small ways to finish a 4 or 5 sees. The talent is there if they stay healthy and get natural profession from younger players (and #29 is what we all know he is, the best player in the game).
For me the key to rising from 8th to 4th is what happens with guys like Kamenev, Jost and Girard. And maybe some contributions from players not yet on the roster but recently drafted. The youngest team last year might be so again once those players are playing in the Spring.
It’s frustrating to watch right now (especially all OT games). But thinking to 2016-2017, I can live with this frustration (for a while).
The Heretic
While I would have been much happier with a win, I’m still just geeked about watching fun hockey again. Like Bednar said: “it was a fun, entertaining hockey game that ended up in OT”. We are still less than two years removed from a 48 point season and unwatchable hockey.
Kerfy has been great. The vets we brought in don’t seem to be ruining the locker room. There is a lot of positivity to be had with this team when you consider where we were just two seasons ago. The adjectives don’t stomp on us anymore. I’m just enjoying the fun hockey.
macchaffin
It is early in the season. Team will get better defensively and overall. No worries here. We still are accumulating points even though we aren’t playing well.
Carter970
This team will look a lot better once Erik Johnson picks up his game. I know how important he is to our team, but damn he frustrates me. Too often it seems he carries the puck into the scoring zone and looses it rather than making the possession pass. I really do not like him in Overtime and Powerplay situations, but he has had streaks over the years where offense starts to happen and he stifles my frustrated view of him.
gtq
I liked what I saw of Kamenev. I would like see how he does with a bigger role and more skilled linemates. At some point I think you have to question the system Bednar runs. Shot suppression may never be a feature. Seems like everything is predicated on quick exits and transition. Problem is half the team does a quick exit without making sure the puck is traveling with them. Makes the defensemen be perfect on their exits. Also I do think the lack of size in the forward position is a problem. Everything is predicated on quickness, but it is hard to transition if you don’t win puck battles in your own zone.
George in Limbo
Team is 500. I trust Bednar. I’m still optimistic about a playoff birth this season. We’re going to get on a roll eventually. Just need to iron out the wrinkles.