The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from the Avalanche's rebound week

The Colorado Avalanche dug deep this past week and ended up with a respectable .500 week. They dug a deep hole during their disappointing homestand, finished it off with an unexpected loss to the struggling Buffalo Sabres, then took their show on the road where they dug out of their disastrous homestand and went on to win two of three matchups against some stiff competition. (Note: This was written before Colorado played Washington)

THE GOOD

1. Captain Gabriel Landeskog returned from his controversial suspension and the team responded with more competitive play on the ice. Sometimes, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Landeskog’s absence during four of the five-game home stand was tangible, with the Avalanche winning only one of four games. His return led the team to two wins in three matches on the road and they showed a significant improvement in their compete level. Does anyone question Landeskog’s value to the team now? Me neither. He also earned a goal and an assist.

2. In both road wins, the goaltending kicked it up a notch. Semyon Varlamov saved 39 of 42 shots on net against the Florida Panthers for a .929 save average. Jonathan Bernier, not to be outdone, nearly posted a shutout as he stopped 39 of 40 shots on net to earn a .975 save average. Ironically, both goaltenders played their best games with 40 or more shots on net. Could that be the secret to their success? That may not be survivable as a fan, though, without a significant increase in comfort food and/or more alcohol.

3. Hey! The Avalanche actually won the face-off battle with the Pittsburgh Penguins, in addition to winning the game. They actually won 51.9% of their face-offs. The young guns did their fair share to help improve the statistic – Mikko Rantanen won 71% of his while J.T. Compher hit the 70% mark and Tyson Jost earned a 67% win average.

Compher ranks 5th in total number of face-off wins by rookies. Dominic Toninato actually had the highest Avalanche rookie average, at 50%, over the course of 58 matchups in his eight-game stint with the team. Compher’s average is 49.8%, the best of any NHL rookie with over 200 face-offs.

4. For the first time this year, the Avalanche won two road games in a row with the wins against the Florida Panthers and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team also won two of four games last week and hit the 30 point mark and 14 wins. Last season, the Avalanche didn’t earn 30 points until February 4, the same day they earned their 14th win. While the ups and downs can be gut-wrenching, there’s a lot more to enjoy about this season. Stick taps to all the Avalanche players!

5. Colorado’s penalty kill has only allowed one goal in 16 opportunities this past week, climbing up two more spots from last week to 17th place. Considering the Penguins are the second most successful team in the league on the man advantage, the Avalanche’s defense earned every bit of recognition for their play.

6. Nathan MacKinnon earned four points over the past week with two power-play goals, a regular goal, and an assist. He led the team in points for the week, leads the Avalanche in points for the season (33) and goals (11) and sits in a 12th place tie for NHL scoring.

7. Defenseman Erik Johnson earned a point in the last three games, including two goals and an assist. He left the Florida Panthers game after taking a puck to the knee but returned for the Penguin matchup. Even with the injury, he still led the defensive corps in ice time against the Panthers and racked up nearly five minutes on the penalty kill against while taking four shots and notching a goal. Johnson was playing in his 400th game in an Avalanche uniform.

In the last four games, Johnson has lobbed the puck on net 10 times. During the same period, offensive defenseman Tyson Barrie has only taken six shots and earned two assists, despite racking up significantly more ice time on the power play. Maybe Johnson will become the team’s offensive defenseman. Okay, you can stop laughing now.

8. Patrik Nemeth returned from injury in time to face the Tampa Bay Lightning. His return may have been one of the factors for the team switching to playing 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the road trip. In his first game back, he logged nearly as many short-handed minutes as Johnson, made three blocks, skated into three hits, and took a shot on goal. Good to see the Avalanche easing him back into the lineup.

9. The Carl Soderberg, Blake Comeau and Matt Nieto combination continues to be one of the more consistent lines on the team as the eat up the harder minutes on ice. Soderberg plays a significant amount of time on both the power play and the penalty kill while Comeau and Nieto contribute to a large portion of the forwards’ load on the penalty kill. Both Nieto and Comeau scored a goal and two assists for three points apiece this past week, while Soderberg notched his eighth goal and twelfth assist of the season.

10. Mikko Rantanen had another three-point week with a goal and two assists. He currently leads the team in power-play goals and is second on the team in total points.

11. Forward A.J. Greer returned from injury to play for the San Antonio Rampage. If Kerfoot can’t return and/or Coach Bednar wants to revert back to running 12 forwards, there is a quality call-up available. It’s nice to have depth. And healthy players. And wins. And chocolate.

THE BAD

1. Speedy forward Alexander Kerfoot left the Pittsburgh Penguins game with a lower-body injury. There has yet to be any official word on his status so keep an ear out for an update. Losing a player like Kerfoot is bad. Losing someone like Kerfoot, who scored a goal and two assists in the past week and sits in a third-place tie for rookie point leaders, is really bad.

Complicating the situation – the Avalanche were playing with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. The injury left 10 forwards to manage the offensive push and increased ice time as Coach Bednar rotated players. The Avalanche won against the defending Stanley Cup champions so one can’t argue with the result. But it will be interesting to see if the forward corps has enough gas left in their tank to defeat the Capitals tonight.

2. In three of the last four games, the Avalanche only scored two goals in each outing. It’s not disastrous but it’s definitely not good. The team ranks 27th in average shots per game and have allowed their opponents 80 more shots this season than Colorado has taken. That’s kind of bad.

3. Here’s a question. If a defenseman only launches one hit over four games while second among defenders in ice time, is he really a defenseman? Meet Tyson Barrie, who made one hit and three blocks for the week. In the current NHL, his one hit is probably acceptable as long as he scores although it wasn’t his best week. But really – one hit? One? Forward Sven Andrighetto had three hits in the Penguins game alone and he also had two assists for the week. Yeah, yeah, back to my corner.

THE UGLY

1. The Florida Panthers’ Jonathan Huberdeau careened into Landeskog, hitting him right between the numbers and knocking Landeskog’s head into the boards during the game. There was no penalty and the Department of Player Safety did nothing. Yada-yada poor officiating, yada-yada consistently inconsistent, yada-yada Avalanche can’t get a fair shake, yada-yada.

It’s all been said before. Nothing has changed. If there’s any question, check out previous TGBU’s, other columns on the Avalanche, or various Twitter feeds. The long and short of it, there just aren’t enough gift baskets to sweeten the referees or DOPS into following their own rule book. Guess they really do follow the pirate code, with the rules being more like guidelines, anyway. That being said, maybe it’s time to keel haul them all.

2. Colorado’s power play accounted for the only two goals against the Buffalo Sabres but essentially disappeared on the road, failing to hit the net on 13 chances. Converting on only two of 16 chances dropped the team to 19th among all NHL teams. Not stinky, but when they had four power play chances against Pittsburgh and couldn’t convert on any, THAT was ugly. Fortunately, it didn’t cost them the win.

3. Nail Yakupov has missed three straight games although the last one was due to illness. He was a healthy scratch for the other two so it’s unclear if he would have played against Pittsburgh even if he was healthy. If he’s in the doghouse, there may be more trouble brewing for him, which would be disappointing as well as ugly.

WHAT TO WATCH

1. The Avalanche face off against the Washington Capitals tonight in their final matchup of their four-game road swing. Puck drops at 5 pm MST.

2. In some weird scheduling, Colorado will host three teams they faced on their road trip this upcoming week. Thursday night, Dec. 14, at 7 pm MST, the Florida Panthers will come to the Pepsi Center. On Saturday, Dec. 16, the Tampa Bay Lightning come to town for a 7 pm MST puck drop. Finally, the Avalanche will again face the Pittsburgh Penguins, albeit on home ice, for another 7 pm MST start. The Avalanche will have played 10 games in 18 days in the month of December by the time they host the Penguins. Quite a change from the odd breaks earlier in the season.

3. While there is still some discussion about whether rookies Tyson Jost or Sam Girard will join Team Canada for the upcoming World Junior tournament, two Avalanche prospects are already there – Connor Timmins and Cale Makar. While it’s looking less likely that Jost or Girard will head to Juniors, rumors continue to swirl, so keep an eye out. Or an ear. Or something.

4. Captain Gabriel Landeskog needs only two more points to reach 300 career points. Keep your fingers crossed that it’s sooner rather than later.

Until we meet again – so long and thanks for all the fish!