BOSTON – Never seen anything quite like this, this curse. I grew up around this area, too, where I truly used to believe in curses. Like, I really, truly believed the Red Sox and Patriots were cursed. But, no, I don’t think that anymore. Not about them anyway.
But this overtime thing? It’s a curse at this point. The Avalanche lost again in overtime today, 2-1 to the Boston Bruins, on a Brad Marchand goal that went past Semyon Varlamov on a deflection.
The Avs lost all three games on this Eastern road swing. All in overtime. They got a point in every game though. Depending on one’s point of view, the glass is either half empty or half full on that.
But here’s one thing that is truly a positive, in this time of misery otherwise: Semyon Varlamov looks like he’s getting his groove back.
The Avalanche goalie played very well on this trip, getting better as the games went along. If the Avs are to have any hope of making the playoffs at this point, a hot goalie is the best way to get there. Varlamov is heating up.
Jared Bednar emerged from this game sounding hopeful that maybe this team is turning some kind of a corner. They are not only getting better goaltending from Varlamov, but the commitment to defense is there again. Remember that “Win 1-0” motto from a few days ago he preached? No, there still haven’t been any 1-0 games, but this was 2-1 and that represents some progress at least.
“We’ve been talking about cleaning up our checking and our commitment to defend and our awareness as a team,” Bednar said. “The last couple games have been a lot better in that area, and it’s leading to points, right? We came into three really tough buildings against three really good teams and we got points in all three. To me, that’s a huge step forward.”
I know some people reading this are going to see Bednar is in a little bit of denial here. The team has lost seven straight. Not all in regulation, of course. But, put better, they have not won a game in seven straight.
Varlamov is probably going to start every game in the near future now. He seems quicker on his feet again, moving side-to-side better. And his angles have been better. He made some really big saves in this one. Unfortunately for the Avs, Jaroslav Halak played out of his mind. He robbed Nathan MacKinnon on a breakaway, robbed Matt Calvert in overtime, robbed some other guys.
The dominated the first couple minutes of overtime, just like Saturday in Brooklyn. But then they lost a faceoff and couldn’t get control of the puck again for about 45 seconds. Marchand gets a lucky break to win it, and there you go. Another maddeningly frustrating loss in OT.
Again.
“What more can you do?” captain Gabe Landeskog told BSN Denver. “We’re dominating overtimes now, and they throw one from out on top of the zone. I don’t know if that’s the game plan, just throw one from the top of the zone and hope it hits something. But, I mean, to their credit it worked.”
Landeskog is OVER this overtime stuff, though.
I asked Landeskog if this is the most frustrating thing of his career, this OT hex?
“The way we’re losing games in overtime right now, yeah, it would have to be,” Landeskog said. “It’s just one of those things right now I guess. The only thing we can do is go back home, have a day off tomorrow, and regroup. Get back at it.”
0 Comments (6 conversations)
KCRybek
At least Bednar learned from the past and benched Barrie in OT. Good on you coach
Jap18
Good article AD, I like Varlamov getting the credit he is due. Three games in a row now where he made some Varly Varly like saves. Unlucky bounce on that OT goal. I really liked the play of Mack, girard, and Johnson today. Johnson and Soderberg have been key reasons why they are managing to get to OT. Let’s beat the leafs and get going Tuesday!
Steve Cañon
Go out and get an exorcist. Burn sage on the ice and in the locker room. Have a witch curse the visiting locker room. Something has to work.
fastslowloris
So they tried 2 D and 1 forward already. It didn’t work. Would it be so crazy to try 3 forwards at this point? I didn’t like Johnson in OT. He was fumbling the puck and looked out of place in 3v3. Obviously having Barrie out there hasn’t been effective. So let’s just roll the RML line out there next time and go for broke. Why not?
Overall, though, I agree with Bednar. This game felt like a total commitment from the players to play team defense.I thought the effort was the best I’ve seen in a long time. I do think this could be a turning point despite the OTL.
Jap18
I agree with what your saying, I like using the top line out there with no defenceman way more than having Z out there. In reality, what’s the value of a stay at home D in 3 on 3? Everyone guards their man, there really isn’t a need for a defenceman there.
Cerveau
‘@KCRybek Let’s hear it for a coach seeing a pattern… then doing something about it…
What gets me is so many of these teams have star players with half the points of our stars, yet those teams are beating us. That tells me that in spite of not having the talent we have they manage to beat us.
Which means they’re either playing better as teams, or have better systems, or better coaching so as to stay disciplined, or something.
If we managed to have a hot streak in the early part of the year, playing and winning against the best teams, then all the other teams settled into their systems and started beating us in spite of often having less talent, then it seems to me talent is not our issue… coaching is.
Bob_W
I totally disagree. The fallacy with your position is that you assume that it has to be lack of talent or coaching. The real problem, in my opinion, is the players’ refusal to commit to checking and defesive play. The coaches can tell the players how to play and show them what they’ve done wrong but the players are the ones who are on the ice and must execute during the game.
phawksmulder
Off topic, but it has always kind of hurt to read “Avalanche is.” Always seemed like it should be a plural form in “Avalanche are” considering we’re usually referring to a group of players. That’s always caught me off guard when reading an article or watching a presentation and it is used that way.