The Colorado Avalanche are hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets in their only Mile High meeting this season. The Colorado Avalanche are coming off of a mini-streak, having won the last two games and the last three out of five. The Blue Jackets fell to the Arizona Coyotes 6-3 on Saturday night.
Storylines
Who Are You Again?
It’s tough meeting the Eastern Conference teams because you only see them twice a year. Last season the Avalanche won both their meetings against the Jackets.
Similarly to the Avalanche, the Blue Jackets started out slow after a dream season in which they made the playoffs for the first time ever. They were up and down for all of October and more down than up in November. However, they accrued 10 wins in 12 games in December, so they’re back to hunting for a playoff spot. Currently they have 35 points, making them 11 away from a wild card slot.
The Avalanche, of course, have 38 points and are seven away from a playoff spot.
Who Do You Think You Are?
Ok, head coach Patrick Roy wasn’t quite that combative when he called out his young stars. However, he isn’t pleased with the production of captain Gabriel Landeskog and centers Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon and Ryan O’Reilly. After O’Reilly’s overtime goal on New Year’s Eve, some of the pressure may be off of him, but it’s still present on the others.
The Avalanche youngsters aren’t pleased with themselves either. Landeskog said:
"“It’s not a secret to anyone that we haven’t been producing lately. I know I have had a tough time scoring lately. We’ve got a few guys that have felt the same way.”"
Duchene concurs. He believes that the problem is mental more than physical:
"“We’re starting to second-guess everything we do rather than just letting it flow and being proactive and just playing. We’re making mistakes, we’re feeling too guilty about it. Our biggest problem right now as a team is that we’re beating ourselves most nights rather than the other team beating us.”"
Coach Roy agrees. He sees that the players lack confidence around the net, which he calls “sad.”
Keys to the Game
Big Guns Brandishing Big Guns
The Avs won their last two. Except for the O’Reilly goal, the scores didn’t come from the young talent for the Avs. We’re talking newcomer Borna Rendulic and stay-at-home defenseman Nate Guenin scored, while the young guns did not.
The young talent is playing well. They’re taking shots. They’re earning assists. As defenseman Erik Johnson — who himself has been brandishing big guns recently — pointed out, once the shooters manage any kind of goal, the pucks are going to start going in.
It would be helpful if that happened against the Blue Jackets, who are bound to be tired after their loss to the Coyotes last night.
What’s Your Specialty?
Blackout Dallas
For the Avalanche, specialty teams are not their specialty right now. They have been unable to score on the power play to save their life. They currently rank 26th in the NHL. Unfortunately for the Avs, Columbus ranks number 1.
Even the penalty kill, which was so hot for parts of the season, has fallen somewhat for the Avalanche. They gave up two power play goals in the loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, two in the Flyers win and one in the Oilers win.
So, the Avalanche have got to find a way to score on the power play — see above about the big guns — and tighten their penalty kill back up.
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not
Not
It’s obvious which players are not so hot for the Avalanche right now. Poor Landeskog continues to be snake-bitten, MacKinnon can’t buy a goal, and Duchene is enduring one of his slumps.
Hot
On the plus side, O’Reilly looks like he might be busting out of his slump. He has two goals in the last five games, and he’s been shooting the puck pretty consistently.
Alex Tanguay is the most offensive player on the team right now — in a good way, of course. He leads in both goals (12) and points (25). He has three points in the last five games, and his shootout goal against the Oilers sealed the win for the Avalanche.
The game starts at 6:00 pm MST and will be broadcast on Altitude TV.