The Colorado Avalanche gave fans lots of reasons to be joyful in this merry season this past week, setting the stage for ringing in the holidays with great expectations. Winning two of three matchups at home only hints at what this team accomplished. Santa will not be putting any coal in their stockings. Put on your silly Christmas sweaters as TGBU covers the past week with the Avalanche in jolly Christmas style.
THE GOOD – JINGLE BELLS, DECK THE HALLS AND ALL THAT STUFF
1. Three Avalanche players had a six-point week. Alternate Captain Nathan MacKinnon earned four goals and 2 assists, Captain Gabriel Landeskog notched three goals and three assists and defenseman Tyson Barrie tallied two goals and four assists. MacKinnon now leads the teams in points, goals, and assists. Mikko Rantanen pulled in a close second for one goal and four assists for the week. Hot chocolate for all!
2. MacKinnon’s reign of scoring terror not only sent him to the top of the Avalanche scoring. He now ranks 8th among all NHL players in total points as well as assists while placing 13th in goals scored. His average of 1.18 points per game puts in 7th place among all NHL players. Opposing teams better watch out as MacKinnon may be hitting some lumps of coal into their Christmas stockings. Santa MacKinnon is coming to town, bringing goals and assists for all the good little Avalanche fans.
3. Speaking of scoring prowess, defenseman Tyson Barrie quietly moved into a first-place tie for scoring among defensemen as well as for assists by a defenseman. Hopefully, Santa will bring him an endless supply of Dairy Queen gift certificates to reward him for his effort.
4. The Avalanche penalty kill has become a thing of beauty as the team has successfully killed 16 straight short-handed situations. The team continues to climb the charts moving into 15th place as they have successfully killed 81.8% of their penalties, moving up four places from two weeks ago.
5. Colorado ranks seventh among NHL teams in scoring per game, averaging 3.15 goals per game. The Avalanche rank 7th in all goals scored. GM Joe Sakic’s younger and faster movement seems to be reaching their goal. Christmas cookies for everyone – gotta’ make sure they have a sugar rush to continue the scoring.
6. Landeskog scored his second hat trick of the season against the Tampa Bay Lighting and passed the 300 point mark in his NHL career. He also leads all Colorado forwards in ice time. Santa thinks he’s been a very good boy this year so he is sure to get a basket full of Swedish treats as well as some holiday cheer. There is no doubt the captain has earned his leadership position. Keep up the good work and may you find only good gifts under your Christmas tree!
7. Coach Bednar deserves some recognition for the Avalanche’s development. While bringing up the youth and calling on the leadership to step up, Bednar also changes up players and line combinations. It’s refreshing to see the team adapt as the game progresses. May he find himself revitalized by the spirit of the season and the fellowship of family. Colorado needs the coach raring to go after Christmas break, so maybe Santa should also get him a cache of Starbuck’s cards, or just a lot of coffee. Either way.
8. It’s not quite a Christmas miracle but it’s worth noting the Avalanche won 50% or more of their face-offs in their last three games. Considering they were matching up against Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Florida that’s pretty good. Candy canes to all involved and may the improvement continue!
9. Nikita Zadorov had a monster night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. In 17 even strength minutes, he played 13 of those against Sidney Crosby. During Zadorov’s time on ice, he only allowed five shot attempts against Colorado while there were 21 shots FOR the Avalanche, all while laying out five hits and blocking three shots. It’s worth noting – Crosby did not get a single shot on goal and finished -2. Patrick Nemeth did his share of defensive damage as well, leading the defensive corps in minutes as well as short-handed ice time. Welcome back and stay healthy.
10. The Avalanche came back from a four-goal deficit to nearly win the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, arguably the best team currently in the NHL. The electric third period energized the home crowd and proved to everyone they are a different team. Instead of rolling over and wetting on themselves when the chips were down, Colorado dug deep and found they were made of sterner stuff. Then they went on to sweep the Pittsburgh Penguins, the back to back defending Stanley Cup champions. On behalf of everyone, thank you. Hope is the best Christmas present of all.
11. While the MacKinnon-Landeskog-Rantanen lines have scored the lion’s share of points this year (may their Christmas trees overflow with presents), the other lines are starting to find the net. J.T. Compher, Tyson Jost, and Colin Wilson all hit the twine this past week, a necessary move for future success. The defense contributed to the scoring as well, notching at least a point in each of the last eight games. Aside from Barrie, both Marc Barberio and Nikita Zadorov earned two assists apiece. Please, sir, may we have some more?
12. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov improved his overall save average this past week with some stellar play in two of his three games to climb up to 28th place with a.908 save percentage. His goals-against average, however, a not so good 37th ranking from a dismal 3.03 goals allowed per game.
THE BAD – FRUIT CAKE TYPE OF BAD (it’s Christmas after all)
1. The Avalanche gave up three goals in a two minute period to the Lightning and a cumulative four goals in four minutes. Pretty stinky. Since the Avalanche responded to the pressure with some amazing hockey, and in the spirit of the season, let’s let it go. You may all launch into the song from “Frozen” now.
2. The power play has fallen two places and now ranks 17th in the NHL. They currently score 18.8% of the time when on the man advantage. While not disastrous, Colorado leads the league in the number of power-play opportunities. Just a little tweaking on the man advantage could help the team gain a couple of extra wins. It’s more like finding crazy holiday socks instead of candy in your Christmas stocking, not super bad but not what you were hoping to find.
3. In the second period of the Lightning matchup, Nathan MacKinnon was robbed of a crucial goal to pull the Avalanche within two when Victor Hedman slashed his stick out of his hand when MacKinnon was in the crease with a loose puck. No call. It’s worth remembering this happened a minute before the controversial Erik Johnson call.
4. Goaltending continues to be the biggest roller coaster of the season. The Avalanche lost every game in the last two weeks when the goalies earned a below .900 save average. Only four teams own a higher goal against average than the Avalanche’s dismal 3.27 per game. It’s asking a lot of a team for them to score four goals every night to get a win. Hopefully, they are moving in the right direction. But could Santa help them speed up the improvement, please? Pretty please? Will some steaming hot chocolate with marshmallows on top help?
THE UGLY – TOY PACKAGING (Good luck getting your action figure out of that box)
1. The Avalanche have some work to do with their four on four play. They surrendered three goals to Tampa Bay when both teams were short a player and have given up seven goals this season in four on four play. Maybe threaten to force the team to watch every claymation Christmas show if they ever do that again. Or with nasty elves. Or standing in line for Christmas returns.
2. Erik Johnson put an unnecessary hit on Tampa Bay’s Vladislav Namestnikov near the end of the second period of their matchup, earning a two-game suspension. This ugly has a number of its own issues.
Was the hit dodgy? Yes. But as in all things, context is everything. A minute prior to Johnson’s hit, Hedman slashed MacKinnon’s stick out of his hand, preventing a sure fire goal. No call. This does not excuse a bad play, it just illustrates some questionable play was going unpenalized.
Second, both Gabriel Landeskog and Tyson Jost were hit AT the boards in two previous games without even a penalty assessed (Johnson was out from the boards by a good 10 feet). Jost missed a number of games due to the injury.
Thus, the problem with inconsistent officiating. The NHL should be setting the standard for what constitutes fair play. Because the calls are not consistent, the grey area puts players unnecessarily at risk. On the face of it, Johnson’s subsequent two-game suspension looks reasonable. When taken into context with the moment and the season as a whole, it’s inconsistent with the standards the NHL has set for play against the Avalanche.
For the NHL Department of Player Safety, coal alone won’t do it. Santa needs to deliver big flaming piles of reindeer poo accompanied by the expired eggnog.
PLAYER MOVEMENT – Gingerbread men
Defenseman Duncan Siemens was returned to San Antonio last week and forward Alexander Kerfootreturned from injury to join the team against the Pittsburgh Penguins last night.
WHAT TO WATCH – Set out the milk and cookies
1. The player movement freeze goes into effect at midnight tonight and continues until 12:01 am December 28th. This prohibits all trades, loans, and waivers. A team may call up AHL players as needed as long as no waivers are involved. There may be a flurry of movement prior to tonight’s deadline.
2. The Avalanche will take their show on the road for two matchups prior to the Christmas break. They face-off against the Los Angeles Kings for a late night start on Thursday at 8:30 pm MST. Then off to take on the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday for a 6:00 pm MST.
