Colorado Avalanche Need to Develop Some Consistency

The Colorado Avalanche have not been able to win in any sort of consistent fashion so far this year, and that needs to change.

Well, Tuesday night was a doozy for the Colorado Avalanche, eh folks?

It was awful… It necessitated an angry cessation of a flashing and sputtering TV in my apartment in Bozeman, Montana. And, a swift drowning of all light as my head hit the pillow before the third period even ended.

School is demanding — yes — but that spectacle demanded a cease and desist of the most immediate kind. I could not endure.

And, it was more of the same this season. After playing two really good games against the Winnipeg Jets and the Arizona Coyotes respectively, the Avs came out on Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators and proceeded to fling fecal matter for most of the night.

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And it’s not just consistency on a game-to-game basis, but there also seems to be a consistency issue within games as well.

So, what’s going on with the Avalanche?

The Avs Are Not Scoring First

Tuesday night against the Predafiles marked the sixth time in eight games that the Avalanche have failed to score the first goal. That is not good. Luckily, they are 3-3 in games where they haven’t scored first, which is actually pretty impressive, all things considered.

Nonetheless, the lack of consistency is especially disconcerting because the Avalanche struggled to string wins together last season as well.

In other words, there is only one way to win consistently in this league, and that is by approaching each and every game with the same mindset and attitude. It’s done by executing that mindset and attitude game in and game out. That’s the only way to build a winning streak.

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The longest winning streak the Avalanche had last season was between December 12 and December 19, and it was five games. Not bad eh? But wait, the next five games after that winning streak they posted a record of 1-2-2. Get the idea with consistency?

So far this season, the longest winning streak for the Avs has been two games. Of course, they’ve only played 8 games this season, so that’s not bad. They also posted a 3-1 record through the first four games. That’s a pretty good start for the team. However, since then they have gone 1-3. Not good. Not consistent.

A famous man named T.S. Eliot once said: “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.”

Third Period Woes for the Avalanche

Remember last year’s third period collapses? Yeah, they were pretty bad. Luckily this year the Avalanche haven’t been as noticeable in that regard. Nonetheless, the Avalanche have struggled in the third period this season.

For example, the Avs have been outscored in the third period 9-7. None of those goals have been empty netters. However, that number above is not an outrageous number by any means.

Perhaps I should only mention the Nashville Predators and Florida Panthers games in connection to that stat. The Avs were outscored 5-1 cumulatively in the third period of both of those games. Each game was previously within their reach before the puck dropped in the third.

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Tuesday night’s loss to the Preds illustrates this better than anything — even though I’m about to discuss events that happened in the second period, said events created the languid play the Avs came out with in the third period.

Before the third goal by the Predators on the power play, the Avs were dominating play, and had just killed off a penalty for some added momentum.

That’s when Carl Soderberg took a foolish penalty mere seconds after the Avs killed the previous one. And with that power play the Preds were able to score. From that moment forward the Avs looked like a balloon lacking helium trying to find a way to fly.

Conclusion

It’s still early, and the Colorado Avalanche are starting to reach the stretch in their schedule where they’ll be playing games consistently.

This will put them in the grip of routine, and said routine should help them be more consistent with how they approach game nights. From this point forward, the Colorado Avalanche will play at least three games a week until January 6, 2017.

That’s routine. However, routine doesn’t always automatically result in consistency within that routine.

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Nonetheless, the Avs expect to make the playoffs this season, and another year on the outside would be nothing less than disappointing. So, in their case routine better mean consistency.

The Chicago Blackhawks are next on the docket for the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night at 6:30 pm MST at the United Center in Chicago.

The focus on Thursday night needs to be not falling below .500. And it also needs to be on establishing a good record against Central Division opponents.

That’s all for today folks, thank you for stopping by.

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