MONTREAL — One of Jared Bednar’s oft-used metaphors likens a hockey season to a boat, a series of leaks that need to be fixed in time to be in peak working condition for the playoffs.
This Colorado Avalanche season was nearly fissure-free during the first half. After this road trip through Eastern Canada, however, it might be all hands on deck to try and fix everything that has broken down for the Avs.
After storming to a 31-2-7 start, very little has gone well for the Avs in the past 12 games. They are 4-6-2 since a comeback win Jan. 3 at Carolina. After losing by three goals once in the first 44 games, the Avs have dropped four by three or more in the past eight contests — including an ugly 7-3 loss Thursday night to Montreal.
“I think it’s a lot of similar stuff,” Avs defenseman Cale Makar said. “I think for us right now, the work ethic is there for the most part. Guys want to work. We’ve just got to find ways to facilitate that and do it in the right ways.
“It’s a little bit of inconsistency, a lot of ups and downs in the game. We just have to find a way to mitigate that. Once it gets out of control, obviously it will happen like what happened (Thursday) night.”
The Avs were leading the NHL in nearly everything that didn’t involve the power play through the first 40 contests. There are 26 NHL teams with more points than Colorado since Jan. 4.
Colorado is 15th in goals per game and tied for 18th in goals against per contest during this funk. The power play, which has been the one flaw all season long, has been even worse at 31st in the league (11.4%). And the penalty kill, which was first or second for much of the campaign, is 17th.
The Avs are ninth in the league in expected goals for percentage at 5-on-5 since then — still good, but far off the league-leading pace they were at a little more than three weeks ago. Avs coach Jared Bednar said his club is having trouble putting the puck in the net and keeping it out of theirs after the loss to Montreal.
Colorado Avalanche's' Keaton Middleton (67) and Jack Drury (18), battle for the puck with Ottawa Senators' Shane Pinto (12) during first period NHL hockey action in Ottawa on Wednesday. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)Colorado was sixth in the NHL in shooting percentage on Jan. 3 at 11.75% and first in save percentage at .919. The Avs are shooting just 9.61% since Jan. 3, which is 25th in the NHL. Colorado’s save percentage is .868, which is good for 24th.
Despite all of that, the Avs lead, both in the Central Division and atop the NHL standings, is still relatively safe. The Avs lead the Tampa Bay Lightning and Minnesota Wild by seven points, but have three games in hand on the Wild.
“I don’t think concern is the right word,” Makar said. “It’s not like we come into every game thinking we worked hard early in the year, so we don’t need the points right now. We’ve got to continue to build this into the break. We’ve got three games left to build some confidence and work our way back.
“It’s challenging when things aren’t going your way. It’s just got to be as a core — we’re trying to do the right things and trying to simplify it. It’s just sometimes not ending up the right way.”
Some factors were working against the Avs on this trip, which concludes Saturday afternoon with the first of back-to-back games against the Detroit Red Wings, who are currently third in the Eastern Conference with 70 points, nine back of the Avs.
The obvious issue is injuries. Devon Toews has not played in any of these 11 games after being hurt during the comeback in North Carolina. Captain Gabe Landeskog hasn’t completed any of the 11, because he was hurt the next day in South Florida during a loss to the Florida Panthers.
Those are two integral players for the Avs, but that doesn’t excuse everything that has gone wrong. Toews could play as soon as Saturday, while Landeskog should miss no more than the three games left before the break for the Winter Olympics.
Several of the team’s other integral players have not produced at the same rate recently. Nathan MacKinnon has not scored a goal in five games and has only scored in one of the past nine. He still leads the NHL with 38, and is second with 88 points.
MacKinnon remains one of the favorites for league MVP honors, but Colorado has been outscored 8-4 with him on the ice at even strength in the past five games after it was an absurd 81-26 in the Avs’ favor before that.
He’s not alone. The Avs have been outscored 14-12 with Makar on the ice at even strength in the past 11 games (14-11 with MacKinnon). They’ve also been outscored when Brock Nelson and Valeri Nichushkin are out there. That pairing was producing more than 60% of the expected goals together at 5-on-5 before this slump, but both are sub-50% since early January.
“I just think it’s everybody,” Bednar said. “It’s not like they’re not doing some good things. They’re creating some chances, and they’re not scoring on them like they normally would. Part of it is you’re going to have to finish off some of the chances.
“I think everyone, all of us, just has to be a little bit better.”
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