The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from the Avalanche’s first full week of play

The Colorado Avalanche launched into their first full week of hockey with energy, speed, and with great highs and some pretty deep lows. Get the full rundown in this week’s the Good, Bad, and Ugly.

THE GOOD

1. The Colorado Avalanche earned a 3-2 record for the start of the season, playing against some of the toughest NHL competition. They played four games on the road and faced off against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins and President’s Trophy winning Washington Capitals. In defying pre-season projections, the team ignited a new level of excitement – and concern – over their performance. Does the fretting make this a good AND a bad issue?

2. Young forward Mikko Rantanen was finally healthy enough to rejoin the Colorado Avalanche. He was recalled from the San Antonio Rampage on Monday after his 10 day rehab stint. Buckle up, as he could be an exciting addition to one of the top two forward lines.

3. The Avalanche shut out the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-0 and a very happy looking goaltender, Semyon Varlamov, commented he liked facing only 27 shots instead of more than 40 in a game. A happy goaltender, a shutout, and reduced shots against – a quality win all around.

4. Colorado managed to capitalize five times out of 17 power play opportunities so far, placing them third in power play percentage, meaning they are likely to score 29.4% of the time they have a man advantage. How refreshing.

5. The Avalanche utilize speed and a quick paced passing game. They are exciting and exhausting. I either need a nap or an energy drink, not sure which. Maybe both.

6. Through five games, nine Colorado players have racked up three points or more, including three defensemen. In fact, newly acquired defenseman Patrick Wiercioch leads the team with five points, tied with forwards Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon. Duchene and new addition forward Joe Colborne lead the team in goals with three each. The diversity of scoring seems to be one of the benefits of the new systems Coach Bednar put in place and should help the team down the road.

7. Center Nathan MacKinnon continues to impress. He’s not only tied for the team’s point leader, he’s also a real nuisance on the ice, physically knocking guys off the puck, getting scrappy in front of the net, and fighting for position.

8.Erik Johnson and Duchene lead the team in shots. Johnson could be the sleeper candidate for most exciting player in the new systems.

9. Special shout out to #9 Matt Duchene who played in his 500th NHL game against the Florida Panthers at only 25 years of age. Congratulations! Looking forward to another 500+!

THE BAD

1. In order to recall Rantanen, the Avalanche had to put center Ben Smith on waivers, ostensibly to send him down to the San Antonio Rampage. However, the Toronto Maple Leafs, his former team, claimed him off the waiver wire. Colorado lost a quality depth center, which is disappointing because something similar happened last year when they lost another depth center – Chris Wagner – who was reclaimed by his former team, forcing Colorado to seriously shuffle players when the injury bug hit.

2. Hats off to the NHL scheduling crew as the Avalanche had to play four games in six days on the road, including a killer back-to-back combination against the Penguins and the Capitals. Now they have six days off before facing another opponent, again with back-to-back games against the Winnipeg Jets in Denver Friday and then heading to the Arizona Coyotes the following night in Phoenix, or Glendale, or wherever it is the NHL has decided to house the team this year. It’s confounding the schedulers couldn’t have found a way to spread out the two games in a more reasonable fashion given the Avalanche’s six-day open window.

3. Colorado’s penalty killing ranks among the worst in the NHL, having given up seven goals out of 23 short-handed situations. Only two other teams are less successful. Ouch.

4. Former Avalanche center Ben Smith collided with Matt Duchene in the second period. Duchene left the ice but did return, and actually scored shortly thereafter. In his postgame comments, Duchene acknowledged that may have been the toughest hit he has ever received. Ummm…anyone else think that’s not good?

5. The third period against the Florida Panthers was just downright bad, especially considering Colorado didn’t fall behind until near the end of the second period.

THE UGLY

1. Getting shut out against the Washington Capitals in a sloppy game was ugly. Losing to last year’s President’s Trophy team? Not so bad. The last time the Avalanche played in Washington, they lost 7-3 in an even more lopsided game.

2. The officiating at the Capitals game certainly earned a gruesome rating. Jarome Iginla  “technically” earned the instigator penalty, how did the Capitals’ Tom Wilson get away with all the posturing ahead of time, acting like he was asking for a fight? And if Iginla got an infraction for initiating contact, how did the Washington’s Alexander Overchkin get away with the sucker punch to Avalanche Captain Gabriel Landeskog‘s head? Wasn’t that a head shot? Isn’t the NHL supposed to be penalizing those? Yeah, right.

3. Future Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla logged a shocking 25 penalty minutes in just five games, second only to Detroit Red Wing Jonathan Ericsson, who logged only one more minute in the box and actually played an additional game. Having someone racking up that much penalty time on the top line is just ugly, despite his amazing hockey history.

4. Dmitry Orlov of the Capitals crouched and then rose as he leveled a hit on Matt Duchene who did a complete flip, yet nearly managed to land on his skates. Didn’t an Avalanche player get penalized for rising into a hit last year? Penalty or no, it was a wicked hit that could have ended Duchene’s season, if not his career. I’m starting to think I may prefer actual fighting, where two guys square off against each other, face to face. It’s a level playing field. Or should I say a level ice surface? A level ice rink??

DID YOU KNOW?

1. Both forward Gabriel Bourque and defenseman Nikita Zadorov share the team lead in hits, with 14 apiece.

2. According to TGBU insiders at the Lightning game, there were only a handful of Colorado fans in attendance. Also, Tampa Bay uses a team of 13-15 people to repair the ice at each commercial break. For the record, they are both genders and appropriately dressed, so one can take their teenage daughter to a Lightning game without having to field a lot of awkward questions. The more you know….

WHAT TO WATCH

1. Colorado has two upcoming games, hosting the Winnipeg Jets on Friday and then travel to face the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.

2. Keep an eye out for line changes as Rantanen’s return will mix things up.