The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Thanksgiving edition covering the Colorado Avalanche

Welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, where the Colorado Avalanche earned a week with a lot to be thankful about.

THE GOOD STUFF – with lots of pie!

1. The Colorado Avalanche just plowed through a 3-1 stretch this past week, winning two of three games on the road, and moving to .500, only one win away from a Wild Card spot. Last year at this juncture, the Avalanche owned a 7-10-1 record with 15 points. While a 9-9-0 record may not be spectacular, considering the offseason drama, the team still outperformed most predictions for the start of the season. Pumpkin pie for the whole team!

2. The Avalanche just bested a team with an NHL best 8-1-1 record in their past 10 games when they beat the Columbus Blue Jackets. Columbus has gone 5-0 against the NHL first place teams. Kind of nice to see Colorado hold their own against a hot team.

3. Alternate Captain Nathan MacKinnon seemed to find another gear this past week as he scored two goals and tallied 3 assists over the four games. He threw the puck on net 23 times. Good things happen when players shoot the puck. The young gun stepped up to help the team overcome injuries to team Captain Gabriel Landeskog and leading scorer Matt Duchene. MacKinnon’s efforts placed him as the team’s current point leader. He deserves a wonderfully roasted stuffed turkey!

4. Matt Duchene, also an Alternate Captain, returned from a four game absence due to concussion like symptoms to score the game winning goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets in overtime. Even with the missed games, he leads the team in goal scoring and trails MacKinnon by only one in points. He also tied Ryan O’Reilly for fourth place in Avalanche history in overtime goals. He should get a good helping of the homemade cranberry sauce, not the kind that comes out of a can. He’s earned it.

5. Defenseman Erik Johnson, who sported an ‘A’ for two games this past week, stepped up big for the team as he notched his first goal of the season and pinched in for three assists. Leaders step up when the chips are down, with or without an ‘A’. Big heaping freshly made mashed potatoes with loads of gravy for the resilient one.

6. In case you missed it, rookie forward Mikko Rantanen had his first two point NHL game with a goal and an assist against the Minnesota Wild. He earned four points over the four games with two additional assists. Stick taps and stuffing for you!

7. If you are wondering who to thank for the Avalanche’s success this past week, you might want to consider the goaltenders. Semyon Varlamov has gradually climbed above the .900 save percent mark, thanks in part to his outstanding play stopping 40 of 42 shots by Columbus and 32 of 33 shots by the Kings. Calvin Pickard stopped 41 of 43 shots against the Wild, helping beat Minnesota twice this season. Full meals for both!

8. Coach Jared Bednar has won all three coach challenges so far this season. So Avalanche – 3, Referees -0.

9. Call-up A. J. Greer earned his first NHL point with an assist on Mikhail Grigorenko’s goal against the Dallas Stars. Greer must feel like a yo-yo after coming up for a game, getting sent back down to San Antonio, then being recalled for the last three games. Greer tallied eight shots in his four games and has averaged over 14 minutes of ice time.

10. Colorado owns a perfect win record in overtime, winning all three extra time matches. That’s worth a second helping of pie!

THE LEFTOVERS (The Bad)

1. Not so good and likely to leave you feeling over-stuffed – Colorado ranks 10th in penalty minutes, racking up 206 minutes in 18 games. Jarome Iginla had 27 minutes in the box– much of which came earlier in the season – while Cody McLeod ranks a close second with 23 minutes over 11 games, an average of 2.1 penalty minutes per contest. Considering his average ice time is only 6.21 minutes per game, he is spending nearly 25% of his time in the box. That’s really stinky leftovers.

2. The Avalanche went one for nine on their power play opportunities in the past week, which included yet another scoreless 5-on-3 opportunity.

3. Colorado players racked up 36 penalty minutes over the past week. They racked up double digits in three of their four games, with a mere two minutes in the box against Columbus. Against the Stars, they served 10 more minutes in the box than Dallas. Anyone watching that game had to wonder, did the referees swallow their whistles? Do they need a gift basket? More pie?

THE GIZZARDS (The Ugly)

1. The huge number of shots allowed against the Wild (43) and the Blue Jackets (42) deserves some attention. For the four games, the Avalanche allowed 140 shots while taking 127. The only team they outshot was the Dallas Stars, which oddly was their only loss. Not sure what to make of that but it definitely smells like that strange side dish no one’s brave enough to taste.

2. The injury bug hit the Avalanche with a vengeance as Matt Duchene missed four games and Gabriel Landeskog looks to miss at least four games. Losing the captain and the leading scorer is ugly. Losing Duchene to an un-penalized and un-fined head hit is really ugly. Only things like the gizzard, the neck, and the giblets for the NHL.

3. The Avalanche’s AHL team, the San Antonio Rampage, has suffered a slew of injuries in the past few weeks. At one point, they had seven regulars not even able to practice, one guy in a no-contact jersey and their leading scorer, A. J. Greer, recalled to Colorado. That’s dangerously close to not being able to ice a team. Hopefully, they are all quick healers. So they should get lots of bandages and aspirin to go along with their turkey this holiday.

GIBLETS (Odd sock)

Coach Bednar has been mixing up the defensive pairings this past week, going so far as to bench Nikita Zadorov for the Minnesota game and pairing Fedor Tyutin with Erik Johnson. The Avalanche have gone 7-2-0 in one goal games. With that said, how can Tyson Barrie ever have more ice time than Erik Johnson? One goal games imply the need for top level defensive play. While Barrie can be a quality offensive defenseman, he has been a turnover machine this year. So giblets for this move, without the stuffing.

WHAT TO WATCH

1. The Colorado Avalanche face off against the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night, at home, in what could be a quick paced game. Puck drops at 8 pm.

2. Will Landeskog be able to return to the team anytime soon? Will Greer be staying up with the Avalanche when the Captain returns? Will McLeod stay out of the penalty box? This and many more questions will be answered during the upcoming week of “As The Ice Melts”.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!