Colorado Avalanche: 3 Areas to Work on After Global Series Games
The Colorado Avalanche will hopefully be watching video and working on drills in practice to improve some of the problems that cost them games in Sweden.
The Colorado Avalanche have returned to Denver after their European trip. In fact, Colorado played four road games in two weeks and went 1-2-1. That’s not great, but considering one of those games saw a key player get traded mid-shift, you almost want to call the roadie 1-1-1.
In any case, the Avalanche did not play their very best hockey during the Global Series games in Sweden. They have three days before playing again, this time against the Washington Capitals. Yesterday was surely a rest day since they likely got back in the wee hours. Hopefully today and the next two days will be spent both on and off the ice improving what sent them astray during their overtime and regulation losses, especially in Sweden.
Meanwhile, the Avalanche are also going to be getting a new member of the team. GM Joe Sakic has said the team plans to call up new acquisition Vladislav Kamenev:
Joe Sakic on Kamenev: He had visa issues. But I would love him to come in Stockholm and play for us. Once we get back we’re going to bring him up. And I’m excited to have him. He’s a big responsible centreman. He’s got a lot of skill. He fits with what exactly we wanna do
— Igor Eronko (@IgorEronko) November 9, 2017
A slight infusion of fresh blood isn’t going to be enough to get the Avalanche back on the right track, though. Here are three areas I hope they’re working on for the next three days.
Game Management
When the Colorado Avalanche say they’re not playing a full 60 minutes, or they blow a third period lead like they did on Saturday against the Senators, or they fail to get into the dirty areas, that all falls under failed game management.
This season coach Jared Bendar has been emphasizing conditioning. Players are being benched if they’re not in appropriate conditioning. So conditioning and recovery shouldn’t be an issue.
Blowing leads shows a lack of resolve. The Avalanche have to learn to stay hungry when they’re ahead — there’s no sitting on your laurels. That’s one of the things I liked about Alexander Kerfoot‘s second goal against the New York Islanders. It was an opposite situation in that the Avalanche were down by three with under 30 seconds to go. Yet he kept pressing — kept playing his best hockey — and that shows resolve.
Getting into the dirty areas, taking the kidney shots because you’re parked in front of the net, getting greasy in the corners — those aren’t the most fun aspects of hockey. Yet willingness to do that those things leads to keeping the right mindset during games.
This probably isn’t something they can work on in practice per se. Rather, it has to be emphasized from the coaching staff down. If you don’t maintain your intensity until the last seconds, you don’t get to play as many seconds (or minutes) in the game.
Shots on Goal
This is another area that seems to plague the Colorado Avalanche. They go through stretches of time when they just get too cute and pass instead of shoot. Yet, going back to good old Alexander Kerfoot, he’s made at least a couple goals this season that were accidental — he was just putting pucks on net. Heck, Nathan MacKinnon‘s first goal of the season was one of those happy accidents.
I know the Ottawa Senators play a stifling defense, a version of the trap. However, Friday’s game the shot differential was 32 to 19. On Saturday it was a ridiculous 40 to 18. That’s requiring the goalie to save the team too much.
A couple seasons ago, when the Avalanche were having this same problem, they set a goal for themselves to get at least 30 shots on goal each game. Being able to shoot the puck is also a sign of possession — and we don’t need to consult our advanced stats to know possession is good because it translates to scoring chances.
Hey, so do shots on goal. Ask Kerfoot and MacKinnon.
Defensive Stability
What goes along with getting more shots on goal? Allowing the opponent to get fewer shots on goal. The Colorado Avalanche needs some defensive stability.
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A lot of that is going to come from the defensive corps, naturally. And here’s where the coaching staff has to get things figured out. The Avalanche have been lucky in that they haven’t had any significant members of their d-corps go down with injury. Patrik Nemeth can’t seem to stay healthy, but they can find stability without him. Ditto Anton Lindholm and his broken jaw.
Top-pairing defenseman Erik Johnson needs a reliable partner. Whether the staff puts Nikita Zadorov in that place and finds a way to make it work, or they choose one of the other youngsters, Johnson plays better when he goes into each game knowing with whom he’s going to be defending.
It’s hard to say what to do with our best offensive defenseman, Tyson Barrie. Bednar had him paired with newbie Samuel Girard. While Girard did very well in his two games against the Ottawa Senators, it’s hard to say that’s a good pairing. Considering Girard is an up-and-coming offensive defenseman, that pairing is a whole lot of defense not happening.
At the time of writing, the Avalanche had the following defensemen on the roster besides Johnson and Barrie:
- Mark Barberio
- Chris Bigras
- Alexei Mironov
- Nikita Zadorov
- Samuel Girard
I like either Bigras or Barberio to play with Barrie, though neither had a stellar road trip, especially against the Senators. Since Nemeth is out with an undisclosed injury and Lindholm is out with his jaw, I think one of those players complements Barrie better.
There was talk of putting Girard on the top pairing with Johnson. The youngster can certainly learn a lot from the veteran, and he would be able keep up. Johnson has already resigned himself to playing more of a defensive role this season, so that’s not bad at all.
Another option, if the coaches insist on Barrie and Girard together, is to put more two-way forwards on the ice, especially when they roll that pairing. Blake Comeau, J.T. Compher, A.J. Greer, Matthew Nieto, Carl Soderberg, and Colin Wilson are good forwards to put on the ice in that situation. Otherwise, you’ve got your goalie getting peppered with shots again.
Next: Girard Impressive in his 1st Avs Game
The current inception of the Colorado Avalanche has been in this situation before. They had a three-game losing streak through mid-October. Rather than let it slide into a major losing streak like they would have last season, they tightened up and started playing better hockey. Here’s hoping the Avs do that again.