The Tape: Empty net exasperation

The Colorado Avalanche have played over 24 minutes of hockey with an empty-net this season, placing them squarely in the middle of the league. Despite having the highest-powered offense in the league the Avs have yet to score a goal with six skaters on the ice (only the Carolina Hurricanes can say the same). This time on The Tape we are diving into why the Avs can’t score 6 on 5.

1. Faceoffs. Let’s start with something positive, the Avs seem to be money on the dot with the goalie pulled. This is crucial as Bednar has never been afraid to take Grubauer to the bench even with a neutral zone faceoff. While this is a positive, as you can see in the clip below a faceoff win rarely amounts to much.

2. Settling. The Avs pretty consistently settle for low percentage opportunities when it comes to desperation time. Getting pucks to the net is great in theory but when you are throwing pucks from impossible angles right into the opposing goalie’s chest, very little good is going to come out of it. Here Landeskog is standing on the goal line when he takes this shot, with the puck already on the near side of the ice Shesterkin hardly even has to move to seal the post and make an easy save.

3. Passive perimeter. The good news is once the Avs are set up in the offensive zone they tend to hold on to the puck for a long time. The bad news is they aren’t accomplishing anything with that possession. In the 40 second clip below the Avs do not possess the puck in the interior of the offensive zone at all other than Landeskog collecting a rebound to send back out to the perimeter. They do manage to get a few seam passes through but much like a regular PP, stagnant legs leave them few options.

4. Icing. Icing the puck with a man advantage speaks for itself. That cannot happen.

5. Lack of urgency. The Islanders are great at clogging things up in the neutral zone but that is no excuse for the Avs not pressing the attack and making quick decisions. With less than a minute to go in the game the Avs bumble around in the neutral zone for 20 seconds before ultimately deciding to dump the puck cutting their time left by nearly 40%. It’s tough to score when you shoot yourself in the foot before ever getting into the offensive zone.

6. Zone entry execution. Expanding off the previous two entries, the Avs struggle to cross the offensive blue line against teams that clog it up, 6 on 5 there is even less room to get in. I spoke about how to set up a dump and chase on The Denver Sports Podcast the other day, setting up someone with speed through the neutral zone to chase the puck in deep. The clip below is essentially a what not to do when it comes to dumping the puck. Three Avs stuck still standing at the blue line. Makar needing to corral the puck before dumping it causing MacKinnon to pull up to stay onside and then MacKinnon even falls over, leaving no one on the Avs to chase at all.