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Matt Duchene Follow Up and Avalanche Wake Up

ByRoss Sellers|

Colorado Avalanche center Matt Duchene has yet to earn his first point of the season.

Well, this was supposed to be a follow-up on my article yesterday about Matt Duchene, but last night’s game was dismal for the Colorado Avalanche, so that needs to be discussed as well.

Dismal Colorado Avalanche Game

There is no particular player to blame for this one. The Avalanche were bad in all 3 zones, but especially in their attempts to exit their own zone. In fact, one bright spot — at least in the beginning of the game — was Matt Duchene’s line. Although, his line ended up being a combined -3.

After an amazing shift early in the game by this line, they got caught on the ice in bad transition, which resulted in the first goal for the Bruins. From there, the Avalanche just seemed to throw all desire of winning to the wayside.

Blake Comeau continued to impress in this game however, as he got another 4 shots on net. In comparison to his line-mates (in fact to the whole team) that was pretty good. Matt Duchene got 1 shot on net, and Jarome Iginla did not register a shot on net.

The whole team played awfully, and there is not really one line to point to that actually stood out. Sure Johnny Mitchell scored another goal, but his line did not play to the same intensity as it has in the first two games. Every line was slumping for the Avalanche in last night’s game.

Last night’s game was full of bad zone exits, awful neutral zone turnovers, and the players coughing up the puck in mind-boggling fashion in their own zone. Sure, Semyon Varlamov had another shaky game, but he is not the one to blame for last night’s loss. Carey Price could not have stood under that barrage of high-scoring chances and come out unscathed.

The Bruins only had 25 shots on net, but their high-end scoring chances were plentiful, and they capitalized. Furthermore, they dictated the pace of the game, and out-possessed the puck with ease it seemed at some points.

Matt Duchene Follow-Up

So, I can’t really follow-up anything on Matt Duchene today, unfortunately.

Furthermore, there were no line changes made by Patrick Roy — at least not any permanent ones — so it’s impossible to analyze if Matt Duchene needs new wingers. I’m still under the impression that he could use a little help on his wings, or at least some sort of chemistry must be found.

Regardless, he did have another pointless night, and I’m struggling to come up with any plays where I saw Matt Duchene playing like Dutchy. Also, he has a grand-total of 3 shots on net through 3 games, two coming against the Wild, and one last night. Which means he had 0 shots on net in a game where the Colorado Avalanche offense was clicking against the Stars.

But enough about Matt Duchene, it’s obviously evident that he needs to get going, he knows that, the fans know that, and the coaching staff knows that. How he ends up finding that scoring touch is beyond me at this point, but the Colorado Avalanche in general need to get their act together.

Colorado Avalanche Moving Forward

It will be good for the boys to get on the road, get out of their own building and the pressure it can provide, and become a team on the road. Players need to start gelling with one another, and sometimes a road trip is a good time to start cultivating that sort of team-bonding.

Over the next few weeks the Colorado Avalanche will play 13 out of 18 games on the road. This will provide plenty of opportunity for character wins, and certainly some tough battles, which — if won — will help the team come together. The Colorado Avalanche will be mightily tested over the next few weeks, and we’ll learn a lot about the direction of the team this season, and what they are capable of.

So, going into Friday’s game against the Ducks the Colorado Avalanche need to simplify their game. They need to focus on crisp zone exits, tape-to-tape passes with force, and put their skate to the throat of the Ducks because they are having their own struggles in the early going of the season.

I’m calling it now, Matt Duchene will get a goal in this game, and look for him to chip in a couple of assists as well. I expect him to be flying on the ice and play with a lot of grit. Dutchy has got to be frustrated with his game up to this point, which is why he’ll be firing on all cylinders tomorrow night.

Ultimately, the Colorado Avalanche are a ways from fixing all their issues so far this season, but we know the team can score, so now there needs to be a focus on the defensive side of the game, otherwise it’s going to be a long season. Matt Duchene is now three games into the season without a point, that will change tomorrow night, and as he goes, so will the Avalanche. Expect them to play angry, we should be in for a good contest against the Ducks.

What do you think AvsNation? What do the Colorado Avalanche need to do in order to keep the puck out of their own net? Will Matt Duchene finally have the game he is looking for to start his season? Let us know in the comments!

Next: Matt Duchene: What Does He Need to Succeed?

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