Time to Reset

After two terrible losses in a row, the Avalanche have officially hit their first rough patch of the season.  There are plenty of excuses being thrown out there as to why the Avalanche looked the way they did over the last two games.  The two prevailing excuses seem to be 11 of first 15 games on the road makes a team more tired, and injuries to roll players like Cody McLeod and Darcy Tucker hurt the team in the energy department.  These are probably contributing factors to our 2 loss streak, but there is a lot more going on.

First of all, I do not subscribe the the “tired on the road trip” excuse as much as some people seem to.  These guys are professional athletes, and it does not take that much rest to be able to play another game.  I can see falling off slightly on back-to back nights, but having a day of rest between games should be enough to physically be ready for the next night.  The way the Avalanche played over the last two games looked more like they ran a marathon in the morning, and then still had to play that night.  The errors seem to be mental, rather than physical in nature.

As for the injuries, losing grinders like Tucker, and McLeod hurts a little, but it is still not the reason that the scoring well dried up over the last two games.  Where are the guys with the first letter of the alphabet stitched on their shoulder?  Stastny and Hejduk are supposed to be the leaders of this offense, and they have been a non-factor on the ice.  I think I only heard Stastny’s name mentioned 3-4 times during the whole game last night.  I am obviously not able to hear what goes on in the locker room, or on the bench; but it does not seem like there is a whole lot of leadership, motivation, fire, or excitement coming from Stastny or Hejduk over the last two games.  Why would the top skating line look completely flat when they are fully healthy?  That has nothing to do with Tucker or McLeod.  I realize that they are still at the top of the team in scoring, but at least over the last two games, I get the feeling that they are just going through the motions.

It is also no secret that Marek Svatos is completely lost out there right now.  In 15 games, he only has 3 points, and he is a team worst -8.  I honestly do not know what the deal is with him, but he is a complete non-factor on the ice at this point in the season.  The problem is that there really is no other player to give his ice time to.  Our call-ups have not exactly set the world on fire in the few games that they have played.  Granted, Dupuis and Durnos looked like they had more energy than the rest of the team at times last night, but it was nothing that convinced me that they need to stay in the big show for any length of time.  Svatos is basically begging someone to take his ice time, or even be healthy scratched, so the door is definitely open for one of these AHL’ers to step up.

On the back end, the defense is also playing a little soft right now.  Anderson has shown that he is going to make the first save on nearly every shot.  Most of the goals have come from our defensemen not clearing the puck out after Anderson makes the first save, which coincides with  them not being tough enough on the opposition when they park in front of the net.  There is not enough physical play in our end, and that is leading to teams being able to cycle the puck extremely easily.  There was a point in the 3rd period of last night’s game where Adam Foot chased a guy around the zone for about 10 seconds.  Even when they got near the boards, he just kept chasing.  There has to be a point where you just stick that guy to the glass.

The bottom line is that it is time to get back to playing basic hockey.  Solid checking, crisp passing, and hard skating are a start in the right direction.  They have also been a little too cute on the powerplay.  The 5-3 last night without a shot on goal illustrated that point.  We should just plant guys in front of the net and slap away from the point.  Let anyone on the opposition try to block it if they want.  They will get through eventually, and delivering a few bruises to legs in the process is just a bonus.

It is not all bad news though.  Craig Anderson, even in the two losses, has been stellar in net.  He has at least kept his team in the game each night.  He gives the Avalanche a chance to win even when they do not deserve it.  As fans of this team, I think that this is all we ever asked for from our starting goaltender.  Just give us a chance to win, and hopefully the skaters can come up with a few goals on the other end.  The NHL has also recognized Andy’s play this season, and named him the first star for the month of October.

I don’t want this to sound like things are in dire straights already.  This team still has a lot of talent, and they are still at the top of the Western Conference.  Hopefully the leadership on the team can deliver a preemptive strike of motivation to make sure that this does not happen anymore.  Even the Stanley Cup winning teams had rocky patches.  It is all about making the right adjustments.  If this team is going to prove that they are not fool’s gold, they need to show some heart over the next few games.  4 of the next 6 are at home, and rest should not be an issue with 3 periods of 2 days off between games.  The competition does not get any easier though.  Phoenix will be at the Pepsi Center on Wednesday night, and they have played very tough so far this season.

- Please check out Jay Vean’s latest edition of The Avs Hockey Podcast #43.