Colorado Avalanche Top Priorities for the Road Trip

“Win ’em all – that’s the main goal.” Cody McLeod

The Colorado Avalanche have a brutal road trip starting tomorrow against the Arizona Coyotes. Ok, playing against the Arizona Coyotes may not be brutal in and of itself. However, the game kicks off a five-game, eight-day road trip that includes not one but

two

back-to-back games.

After Arizona, the Avalanche fly to Anaheim to face the Ducks the next night. They have two days off — supposedly they’re flying back to Denver — before heading to Canada. They play the Calgary Flames on Monday, have one day off and then face the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday and the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

If you notice, all those games are against conference rivals, making them even more important.

So, what should the Colorado Avalanche’s priorities be during this important but brutal road trip?

Win Every Game

It’s a long shot that the Colorado Avalanche make the playoffs. However, if they want a snowflake’s chance in Hades, they have to do what alternate captain Cody McLeod states:

“Win ’em all — that’s the main goal.”

On the flip side, as head coach Patrick Roy points out during the post practice presser on Monday, they can’t afford to lose all five and still potentially make the playoffs — or hold their head up, really. (I added the last part.)

Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has pinpointed a couple key match ups in Calgary and Vancouver since the Avalanche are chasing them in the standings.

Start with Arizona

Landeskog may think the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks are the big games, but he knows where it has to begin:

“Start with Arizona and make sure we have a solid road game.”

Everyone interviewed acknowledged they couldn’t be so busy focusing on the later games that they gave up the earlier games. Back-to-back games against first the Arizona Coyotes and then the Anaheim Ducks — that’s not going to be easy. The Coyotes already know they’re out of the playoffs, but they’ve still got their pride.

As for the Ducks — they have a very impressive record. And a bit of antipathy against the Avalanche, as we’ve seen in recent years.

Keep it Special

The power play was a hot mess at the beginning of the season. The penalty kill has been mostly hot but occasionally cold. They need both in sharp focus throughout the road trip. Their 5-on-5 play has been effective all season. Their 6-on-5 has been stellar.

Speaking of, they shouldn’t count on the 6-on-5 to bail them out. Pulling the goalie is supposed to be a last-ditch effort, not part of the regular game plan.

Give Varlamov a Break

Coach Roy hasn’t even hinted that he’s calling up Calvin Pickard to relieve starting goalie Semyon Varlamov during either of the back-to-back series. Varlamov has been fighting groin issues all season, and that has to be exacerbated by the amount of work he gets. He needs a break because the Avalanche need their top goalie going into the home stretch.

On the flip side, coach Roy has said that regular back up Reto Berra will play again before the end of the season. He didn’t specifically mention either of the back-to-backs, but it makes the most sense. Actually, starting Berra in Arizona makes the most sense — they’re the low-hanging fruit of all the teams.

To give Berra his due, he played quite well the last couple times he had to go in as relief, first when Varlamov got injured and then when Pickard got, well, picked by the LA Kings.

Get Some D Help

Cornerstone defenseman Erik Johnson is slated to enter the fray at some point during the road trip. That is excellent news for the Avalanche.

As of the March 16 practice, Johnson hadn’t been skating with the drills, only before the practice. It’s doubtful, then, that he’ll debut in either the Arizona or Anaheim game. The earliest we’re likely to see him is against Calgary on Monday — 8 weeks to the day since he had the scoping procedure on his knee.

Johnson will most likely take back his spot on the top pairing with Jan Hejda, replacing stand-in Zach Redmond. Redmond hasn’t been terrible in Johnson’s absence — he even got a goal against the Minnesota Wild. However, he’s no Johnson, and he has no place on the top pairing. Nick Holden and Brad Stuart seem in like Flynn with coach Roy — he’s mentioned them positively recently. Tyson Barrie and Nate Guenin seem to have good chemistry. So, yeah, Redmond’s probably out unless Roy starts running seven D and 11 forwards — which he’s been known to do.

Forget the Past

A little while ago, Landeskog let the world know what the “Avs New Age” meant now: “We’re going to go balls out all the way.”

The Avalanche had a terrible start to the year that put them in this hole. We all lamented it when it happened. Maybe some of us are still thinking about it.

We, the Avs Nation, along with the Avalanche themselves have got to forget the past. Yes, it would have been nice if the Avs could have strung some wins together in the beginning of the season. Landeskog acknowledges that:

“A lot of hours of sleep you lose over that though, especially November, December when crunch time was on and we couldn’t seem to win any games.”

Landeskog adds that the team feels “It’s better late than never. For now we’ve got to do what we can.”

They haven’t lost hope, and that’s the good thing. They still believe. The core of the group is young. If they learn how to win now, even if it’s too late, even if it’s just winning for the sake of winning, that’s character that’s going to take them through to next year — and years to come.

Next: 3 on 3 OT and the Avs

More from Mile High Sticking

Home / Avalanche News