The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from the past week with the Colorado Avalanche

THE GOOD

1. Don’t look now, but the Avalanche defeated three tough division foes in the past week. Three. Including the Minnesota Wild. They owna 6-2 record against Central Division teams, the toughest division in the NHL, and have won five of their last seven games.

2. The resurgence of goalie Semyon Varlamov ushers ushers in a world of hope. Varlamov tallied four wins and only one loss in his last five games, earning a .952 save percentange for those games. His improved play brought Varly’s overall save percentage up to .909. Not stellar, but significantly better. And in case you missed it, his glove work has been mighty impressive of late.

3. Forward Carl Soderberg continues to impress, earning a point in each of the last four games. His line – currently Blake Comeau and Andreas Martinsen – consistently pressed the play into the offensive zone, regardless of opponent. Soderberg ranks fourth on the team in points, accumulating 20 so far, behind Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon, and Gabriel Landeskog.

4. Defenseman Francois Beauchemin deserves an Iron Man award as he logged mammoth ice time in all three wins this past week. He played 29 minutes against the Predators, 27:55 against the Blues, and 26:37 against Minnesota, more time than any other teammate. Colorado pulled out wins in each game.

However, it would be nice for him to have something left in the tank should the Avs make a run at the postseason so hopefully they can look at decreasing his ice time down the road. Right now, the wins are essential for keeping hope for a postseason alive.

5. Prior to the game against the St. Louis Blues, the Avalanche had successfully killed sixteen penalties in a row.

6. Colorado earned a winning road record due to their success this past week, boasting 10 wins and 9 losses.

7. John Mitchell scored yet another game wining goal against the Blues, notching his third of the season.

8. The Avalanche rank 7^th in scoring with 82 goals, tied with the Winnipeg Jets and the New York Islanders.

9. Martinsen’s hit on Nashville Predators defenseman Barrett Jackman announced his presence with authority and set the tone for his play. His game winning goal wasn’t bad either.

THE BAD

1. The Avalanche can’t continue to allow the number of shots on goal they did against the Blues. After the first period, the game progressed to something resembling a shooting gallery, without enough pressure on the Blues end of the ice. While Colorado runs a collapsing defensive scheme, so they tend to allow more shots than some others, relying on the Varlamov to stop 42 out of 43 shots in a game may not be the best strategy. And, oh yeah, that doesn’t include the 18 shots the Avs managed to block.

2. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Against the Predators, while Varlamov excelled, the Avs were outshot 10-1 in the second period. Granted, they served three penalties, but they also had one power play. One shot all period. They may want to consider modifying their strategy.

3. Against the Penguins, Colorado was outshot 13-4 during the second period.

4. Colorado has only capitalized on one power play out of 13 opportunities in the last five games.

THE UGLY

1. Colorado will have powered through 20 road games by December 15, the most of any NHL team. Who did they irritate in the NHL to get such an intense road schedule so early in the season?

2. Beuachemin leads the league with 89 blocked shots and Erik Johnson ranks 7^th with 74. While it’s great both are capable of playing well enough to block this many shots, it’s an ugly statistic since it means they have spent a lot of time in their own defensive zone.

3. Watching Colorado give up three goals to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a little over three minutes during the third period was just ugly. Also, in the same period, the Avalanche failed to score on three power plays.

WHAT TO WATCH

1. Patrick Roy played with some of the line combinations and shuffled defensive pairings during the last couple of games. Those change ups offered an opportunity to observe the players in unique situations, and measure how they match up with different skill sets. Will he continue to adjust line matchups?

2. Now that Landeskog and Mitchell have returned to the lineup, look for some lineup changes. Chris Wagner sat out the game against the Blues and Mikhail Grigorenko moved from playing first line wing to fourth line center. It will be interesting to see how the combinations evolve.

3. Can the Avs put an end to Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane 26 game point streak when they play on Tuesday night?

Andreas Martinsen’s hit on Nashville Predator Barret Jackman below.