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

THE GOOD

1.  Forward Matt Duchene found his sweet spot and rediscovered ways to score. In the last four games, he scored four goals and four assists totaling eight points. He was even named one of the NHL three stars of the week on November 16^th. His resurgence to the scoring leader everyone knows he can be bodes well for the future of the Avalanche, once the rest of the team finds a way to win.
2. Mikhail Grigorenko filled in perfectly along the wing of Nathan MacKinnon and Matt Duchene. He showed the speed to keep up with both veterans and his quick hands and hockey sense make him a viable candidate to return to the first line wing. Whether the Avalanche will return him to the first line remains to be seen, but Grigorenko proved Coach Patrick Roy and General Manager Joe Sakic knew what they were doing bringing him to the Avalanche.
3. The Avalanche put together three consecutive wins on the road. The team proved they could win the close game by beating the Boston Bruins three to one, in their own house. They also outscored the league leading Montreal Canadiens six to one and showed they could maintain a lead going into the third period. Who knew?
4. Two Colorado forwards rank in the top 25 of NHL point leaders. Nathan MacKinnon is tied with Vladimir Tarasenko of the St. Louis Blues in tenth place. MacKinnon has scored eight goals and 12 assists accumulating 20 points overall so far this season. Matt Duchene ranks 24th, tied with ten other players, including the likes of Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin, the Pittsburgh Penguins Evgeni Malkin, and Minnesota Wild’s Mikko Koivu. Considering Duchene’s scoring slump at the start of the season, he is rapidly moving up the scoring list.

THE BAD

1. Two losses in the last two games raise some disturbing questions. The Toronto Maple Leafs outscored the Avalanche five to one, getting goals on four out of five power plays. Colorado’s special team play shows some disturbing inconsistencies. Last night’s four to three loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins could be attributed to a two minutes and ten seconds of mental lapse, allowing the Penguins to score three unanswered goals in that time. The coaches need to discover how to prevent the bonehead moments the team exhibits at crucial times. Also, the players have to discover ways to overcome bad breaks in a game and learn they can win the close games.
2. Captain Gabriel Landeskog MUST avoid questionable plays at crucial moments. His two game suspension could have been much more damaging to the Colorado Avalanche if not for the excellent play of Duchene and Grigorenko. While the suspension seems questionable considering the hit, the captain of the team needs to exhibit a degree of self control. If there is a pest on the rink, let one of the team enforcer’s deal with the problem. Being a leader means showing you have the faith in your team that neither the opponent’s chippy play nor the officiating can deter you from winning the game. Take a tip from former captain Joe Sakic, scoring is the best revenge.

THE UGLY

1. The officiating raises some concerns. If the league is so concerned about head shots that Landeskog, with no history of cheap shots, gets suspended for two games on a hit that unintentionally got Marchands’ head, how come Marchand’s INTENTIONAL gloved punch directly TO Landeskog’s head only got a small fine? From replays, the punch looked more likely to cause a serious head injury than the glancing blow from Landeskog. The league HAS to show some consistency in their rulings.
2. Another questionable ruling – no penalty assessed when, in the game against the Montreal Canadiens, Matt Duchene got a stick to the face, blood dripping off his helmet, before scoring. Granted he scored, but generally high sticking which causes injury results in at least a double minor, regardless of scoring. No call. One starts to wonder if the Colorado Avalanche have somehow offended the league’s officiating crew.
3. The Avalanche are beginning to rack up some concerning injuries. Last night’s game listed six players out with injuries including goalie Semyon Varlamov, forwards John Mitchell, Alex Tanguay, Ben Street, and Jesse Winchester, along with defenseman Brad Stuart. . While some injuries are more concerning than others (such as Varlamov’s), no one wants a repeat of last year’s injury plagued season. They finished the 2014-2015 season with 495 man-games lost, nearly three times the number of the Stanley Cup contenders.
4. The signing of Chris Wagner, formerly of the Anaheim Ducks, raises some interesting issues for the Avalanche organization. Currently they have 49 standard player contracts, only one away from the league maximum of 50. Suddenly the Avalanche appear wise for guarding their last couple of contract spots. Another injury or two, and Colorado could be playing some games with the waiver wire. Keep an eye out for upcoming moves should any more injuries occur.