The Good, the Bad and the Ugly with the Colorado Avalanche - leftover edition

 

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The Colorado Avalanche revealed flashes of brilliance but disappointing results in the past week. Like Thanksgiving leftovers, it’s been a mixed bag.

THE GOOD

1. Thanksgiving leftovers are good, especially since you only have to reheat them.

2. Congratulations to Jarome Iginla who scored career goal 614 against the Vancouver Canucks! He now trails 15th ranked Joe Sakic by only 11 goals. Watch out, Joe!

3. Alternate Captain Nathan MacKinnon continues to impress. It’s been awhile since the Avalanche had a true first line center but MacKinnon’s skill and physical strength seem to be growing almost exponentially. He also leads the team with 15 points.

4. Defenseman Fedor Tyutin has earned an assist in each of his last three games. Hopefully, that will continue throughout the rest of the home stand.

5. The Avalanche continue to improve on face-offs, now ranking 4th among all NHL teams, winning 52.2% of them. That’s a significant improvement from last year where they ranked 18th, winning only 49.9% of them.

6. Rookie Mikko Rantanen has racked up seven points in the past eight games. He is also becoming a force to be reckoned with as he crashes through the neutral zone and sets up scoring chances. He and MacKinnon appear to be developing some good chemistry. Everyone cross your fingers.

7. Forward Rene Bourque scored two goals this past week, moving into a tie with Matt Duchene for the lead in goals scored. His signing is looking better and better.

8. Goaltender Calvin Pickard continued his solid play. He stopped 29 of 31 shots during regulation and overtime against the Canucks, surrendering a power play goal in the two goals allowed, and earned a .935 save percent. He allowed only one goal in the shootout. If the Avalanche could score, they would have walked away with two points. Fortunately, Pickard excelled and the team got at least one point.

9. Even with the subpar results from this past week, the Avalanche are still ahead of where they were last year. After 20 games last season, they owned a 7-12-1 record instead of their current 9-10-1. Four points can make a difference down the line.

10. Colorado still beat the Minnesota Wild. Twice. During the regular season. Stick tap.

THE BAD

1. The Avalanche have averaged 11.65 penalty minutes per game, placing them third highest in the league for most penalty time. They rank ninth for total penalty minutes even though they have played fewer games than the teams above them.

2. Colorado’s penalty kill has gone from bad to worse. The team allowed three goals on nine chances this past week. For the season, they rank 27th among the league in successful penalty kills. They have allowed nearly one power play goal per game, ranking 28th in goals allowed. And they are dead last for penalty kills per game, giving up an average of 4.05 per tilt. Is it too early to re-visit the penalty kill strategy? IS there a strategy? Maybe a special teams coaching change? Please?

3. Hey, if you are an Avalanche opponent and need some rest, fouling the Avalanche may work for you. Colorado has only scored 10 goals on the power play, ranking 23rd among all teams.

4. To put the capper on special teams play, Colorado ranks 29th on power play goal differential, meaning their opponents have outscored them on the power play by eight additional goals. The Avalanche have scored 10 times on the power play while their adversaries have scored 18 times on the man advantage. Any chance of revisiting that special teams strategy yet?

5. To no one’s surprise, the Avalanche rank 27th in shots per game. Kind of hard to win when you are constantly being outshot by your opponents. They rank 29th in goals scored. Only the Buffalo Sabres have scored less.

6. The officials for the Edmonton Oilers game must not have received their Colorado gift basket. They missed some really interesting calls in both the second and third period. While most referees try to even out the number of penalties assessed over a game, this crew penalized the Avalanche twice as often as the Oilers. Colorado served five separate penalties in the last 25 minutes of the game, not all of their own doing, without a single call against Edmonton.

Colorado could have benefited from that 10 minutes of even strength playing time lost to infractions. Connor McDavid was impressive but he had some help. Maybe it’s time for a Kickstarter campaign for those gift baskets.

7. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov sustained an injury, forcing the Avalanche to call up San Antonio Rampage netminder Spencer Martin to act as Pickard’s backup for the Vancouver game. Varlamov has since returned to practice, and Martin returned to the Rampage, so one can hope he is on the road to recovery.

THE UGLY

1. Colorado is 1-9-0 when trailing after two periods. That is expired eggnog type of ugly.

2. Edmonton scored 6 goals, the most against the Avalanche all season. Having played such exciting hockey through the first two periods, the Avs laid an egg in a disastrous third period. Surrendering four unanswered goals added a level of pain to the ugly.

3. Nathan MacKinnon’s terrifying slide into the boards at the start of the second period against the Canucks was ugly. Watching it on replay was gut wrenching.

4. Captain Gabriel Landeskog has missed five consecutive games with an undisclosed injury. Why is it undisclosed? Is he moonlighting as a secret agent in his off time? Can the league not be trusted to handle the information appropriately?

5. The Colorado Avalanche record places them dead last in the Central Division after 20 games and second from last in the Western Conference. Disheartening.

HMMM…

Iginla served his 1,000th career penalty minute against the Oilers. Not sure if that’s good or bad. Just hmmm….

QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS

1. Why do the Colorado Avalanche persist in working around injuries instead of putting a player on injured reserve? At least with IR, the team can call up a replacement without worrying about how to juggle roster limits.

2. Can someone in the organization explain why the team has elected to run Cody McLeod out for a mere six minutes per night, racking up almost as many penalty minutes as ice time? He has 28 penalty minutes in 13 games. There must be a reason.

Is it a state secret? Can the fan base not be trusted to use the knowledge responsibly? Is he the team’s lucky charm? What? Maybe I should keep speculating wildly until I get an answer. Perhaps it’s best to leave that to the political commentators. Naw, let the speculation continue – it works on TV. Maybe McLeod’s doing what Coach Bednar wants and his role has been reduced to team thug. That’s sad.

3. Why are the Avalanche treating A. J. Greer like a ping pong ball? From the outside looking in, Greer offers a lot of what the Avalanche need – he’s tenacious, he’s scrappy in front of the net, and he battles for the puck. One would think Greer would benefit from actually being able to regularly practice with the club instead of going back and forth to San Antonio. He averaged nearly 13.5 minutes of ice time per game, more than double McLeod’s minutes, with way fewer penalties. So what exactly needs to happen for Greer to make the team?

WHAT TO WATCH

1. Landeskog continues to be day to day with his mysterious injury. So, who knows, Greer may make yet another appearance or McLeod might actually get more minutes. Seems like anything is possible at this juncture.

2. The Avalanche will host three additional home games this week, two against division rivals. Can the team finish the home stand with a winning home record?

3. Will Nathan MacKinnon break Colorado’s record for shots in the month of November tonight? With 54 shots already this month, he is only three shy of the record set by Claude Lemieux and tied by Rob Blake. In the NHL, his shots place him one behind Patrice Bergeron and ties him with Alex Ovechkin for second place this month.

4. And, drum roll please…the most exciting upcoming event of the week…the end of Movember!!! Soon all the straggly facial hair will disappear!!! Woo-woo!!!